The Pakistan team will assemble in Karachi on Friday for a brief training camp. The camp is organized ahead of the hurriedly-arranged one-day series against Sri Lanka that will start on Tuesday. The team comprising of fifteen players selected for the three-match assignment and a few reserves will warm up under the supervision of coach Intikhab Alam in Karachi. The camp is held ahead of the series opener at the National Stadium here under lights. The second ODI of the series will be played next

Wednesday and the last match will be played on January 24 in Lahore.

Intikhab, who is also a former Pakistan captain said on Thursday that the main idea behind organizing the camp is to get the players together for a few days before the start of the much-awaited series. He said that the boys are already fit as almost all of them are playing domestic matches. But the management wanted them to spend some time together in the nets before the series begins.

Intikhab also added that the team management and Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik have prepared a strategy against Sri Lanka. He sounded confident that the team has the ability to tackle the touring spin twins - Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis efficiaciously.

The Murali-Mendis spin partnership is considered as the best spin team in the world. Intikhab had earlier said that he was aware of the threat of the duo. Pakistan has lined up the series against Sri Lanka in order to fill in for the cancelled home series against India. Earlier, India was supposed to visit Pakistan in January-February.

India cancelled the tour to Pakistan because of strained relations between the two governments over last year’s terror attacks in Mumbai. After the one-dayers, Sri Lanka will come back to home to host India in a one-day series Jan 28-Feb 14. They will back in Pakistan later for the Test series.

Tags : Cricket, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Karachi, test, Lahore, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Mumbai, Friday, Intikhab Alam, camp, nets

Pakistan cricket Board (PCB) supremo Ijaz Butt will be meeting Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar on Friday to discuss the troubled India-Pakistan series scheduled in Jan-Feb.
Both the board chiefs will meet at Colombo on the sidelines of the Asian cricket Council (ACC) meeting.
The relations between India and Pakistan has severely damaged after the recent terror attacks at Mumbai that shocked the entire nation. The terror strike has destroyed the cordial atmosphere between the two countries. The series supposed to be held on January is now under cloud because of security apprehensions.

Saleem Altaf, the PCB’s chief operating officer is highly confident of better results. He expressed hope that both boards will work together towards making the tour possible.

Altaf, the former Pakistan player said that the series is important for both the sides.

In the current circumstances, a final decision on the series will be taken by the two governments. But the meeting has got its own importance in making the clouds clear for the tournament.

Butt will leave for Colombo on Thursday for the ACC meeting. He will be officially announced as the ACC President in Colombo. The post was left vacant after the resignation of former ACC chief Nasim Ashraf as PCB chairman in August.

Butt is expected to discuss the issue of the 2011 World Cup with top cricket officials from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Pakistan is to co-host the quadrennial spectacle along with the three Asian nations.

The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai have put the chances of World Cup under black cloud, which is expected to bring out bitter consequences. Many teams including Australia has expressed doubts regarding the venues, which may result in black days of cricket. But anyhow, International Cricket Council (ICC) has denied the possibility of switching the World Cup venues.

Bookmark It

 Del.icio.us    digg  
 Facebook    Google Bookmarks    Stumble It    Technorati    Yahoo! My Web  
Hide Sites Tags : Cricket, ICC, PCB, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, BCCI, Colombo, Mumbai, terror strike, ACC