 Asian XI hoping to book Afro-Asian Cup title
8th Jun 2007 22:09 IST
Agencies
Already one up in the three-match series, the Asian XI will be hoping for an unassailable 2-0 lead to pocket the Afro-Asia Cup title on Saturday when they cross sword with their African counterparts in the second one-dayer at the floodlit M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The weather might play spoilsport as the city, reeling under hot and humid conditions till two days back, is experiencing drizzles since yesterday. The weather office has forecast cloudy sky with the possibility of showers.
If the forecast does turn out true, the Cup, already hit by lack of main sponsors and pull out by some of the big players, could well be a repeat of the last edition in South Africa which ended in a 1-1 tie with the last match being rained out.
Despite missing top guns like India's Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid and Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, the Asian XI proved their superiority so far with a 34-run win in the first ODI at Bangalore after triumphing in the Twenty20 match the day earlier.
The Indian pair of Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, who were expected to utilise the tournament to reinforce their claim for berths in the Indian team bound for Ireland and England, did put up some decent efforts scoring 45 and 32 in the first ODI. But they could have used the chance to the hilt had they batted little more cautiously in losing their wickets to rash shots.
With the Chepauk pitch expected to assist the batsmen, Sanath Jayasuriya, Ganguly, Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh will have the edge against the largely inexperienced African bowling.
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