 Asia Cup - Battle of regional supremacy
23rd Jun 2008 23:05 IST
Agencies
Sri Lanka, led by Mahela Jayawardene, have not played one-day cricket since losing series 0-2 against the West Indies in April. They would look to get back to winning ways.
No wonder all teams have included specialist spinners in their line-ups with Pakistan opting for two tweakers in Saeed Ajmal and Mansoor Amjad and three spinning all-rounders in Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam and captain Shoaib Malik.
India will definitely miss the services of their two most experienced bowlers in off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and pacer S Sreesanth.
Zakir Khan, the event director, said the presence of the four Test playing nations of Asia has raised the value of the tournament.
"We know how important this tournament is for us and we have the best arrangements for it. The fact that we are hosting the Asia Cup for the first time is also significant.
"We are looking at the Asia Cup as a cricket festival and to show the world any event can be staged in Pakistan without any problems," he said.
Former Pakistan Test captain Zaheer Abbas said the Asia Cup would be a good indication of where the one-day games are headed after the resounding success of Twenty20.
"It is difficult to pick any winners at this stage but one thing is certain we are going to see some close games because the conditions are ideal for big totals," he said.
Another former captain, Intikhab Alam felt Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka all have equal chances of winning the final.
"The composition of all three sides is very balanced for one-day cricket and all sides have some very good young players. It is all about who leads his team well on the big day," Alam said.
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