A flu bug that has already laid low Marvan Atapattu, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chaminda Vaas has seriously handicapped Sri Lanka’s preparations for their crucial second-stage Asia Cup encounter with Pakistan.
Atapattu, the first to be taken ill as the team travelled to Dambulla last week - the final part of an arduous journey from Australia - was so weak that he was forced to hand the captaincy over to Mahela Jayawardene during Sri Lanka’s 12-run win against India on Sunday night. Both Atapattu and Dilshan are on a course of antibiotics and the management remains hopeful that they will be able to play on Wednesday. Vaas first complained of the bug on Tuesday morning and the seriousness of his condition is not yet known.
“There is not really a lot we can do about the situation apart from making sure they take on plenty of fluids and rest,” Clarke told reporters. “The problem is that the players are very tired after Australia and all the travel, and their resistance to these bugs is therefore very low.”
There was better news on Sanath Jayasuriya though, who appears to be recovering well from his side strain, an injury that forced him out of the India match. He resumed bowling on Tuesday morning and should be available for selection.
Meanwhile, John Dyson, the coach, was delighted with Sri Lanka’s performance in the first round, an effort that he believes has now set the team up well for the second round.
“The team played very well in both games in Dambulla and they are feeling pleased with their game and looking forward to the rest of the tournament,” said Dyson. “It was a good boost for the rest of the tournament. It lifts you up and makes you look forward to the next game. It was difficult to come straight in from Australia as it is a long journey back and when you add the bus drive to Dambulla the guys were pretty tired. They have recovered pretty quickly. They are pretty fit and watch what they eat and make sure they get enough sleep so they were ready to play.”
But Dyson remains wary of Pakistan: "Pakistan are a very exciting and dangerous team and they are a side that can do anything and our boys will need to be right on their game.
I believe Pakistan has good ODI openers with Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed and there is no need to promote Shaoib Malik up to open the inning. I do however think that Malik is a good batsman for the #3 slot cuz he takes a little time to adjust and settle down and at #3 he can do that quite easily. Batting at #6, (as he has done since the WC)he couldnt just come and start blasting the bowlers cuz he is no Razzaq and Moin or Akram when it comes to slogging. So, I think my team for Pakistan vs Srilanka will be
Imran Farhat
Yasir Hameed
Shoaib Malik
Inzamam
Yousif Yohana
Younis Khan
Moin Khan
Abdur Razzaq
Shoaib Akhtar
Mohammad Sami
Danesh Kaneria
news from the middle is that Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has won the toss and elected to BAT first....
just the one change in the Sri Lankan playing eleven, Saman Jayantha is out and in comes Sanath Jayasuriya....
all those news of attapatu, vaas, dilshan being down with flu finally gave us no good result....
flat and hard, well rolled pitch, looks like a batting paradise at the moment it's pretty warm and humid....
hope the paki batters make good use of it....
Pakistan team:
Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan,
Abdul Razzaq, +Moin Khan, Mohammad Sami, *Inzamam-ul-Haq,
Shabbir Ahmed, Shoaib Akhtar, Yousuf Youhana.
Sri Lanka team:
ST Jayasuriya, DA Gunawardene, *MS Atapattu, +KC Sangakkara,
DPMD Jayawardene, TM Dilshan, UDU Chandana, MF Maharoof,
WPUJC Vaas, DNT Zoysa, M Muralitharan.
I think Pakistan has picked a good team...Malik is good enough as the only spinner...the match is gonna come down to which team bats better on a batting friendly pitch.
0.4 Vaas to Imran Nazir, one run, pitched up on the middle and leg, beautiful delivery, late in-swing, Imran Nazir gets bat on ball very late, would have been plumb if he had missed, ball rolls down to the deep fine leg region, off the mark
lucky this time....
but next time the inswinger wont spare him....
wonder why no one teaches this guy to handle the ball that comes on to his pads....