Dhoni acknowledges Murali’s contribution
Sanga looking for result oriented Tests :
Chris Dhambarage
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni portrayed spin wizard Muttiah
Muralitharan as a great human being and said that he is privileged to be
part of a historic occasion in the up coming series against Sri Lanka.
The squads: |
Sri Lanka:
Kumar Sangakkara (captain). Muttiah Muralitharan (vice captain),
Tillekeratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavithana, Mahela Jayawardena,
Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Prasanna Jayawardena, Lasith
Malinga, Rangana Herath, Dilhara Fernando, Dhammika Prasad,
Suraj Randiv, Thilina Kandamby, Chanaka Welagedera, Lahiru
Thirimanna, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekera,
Kaushal Silva and Dinesh Chandimal. |
India:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Hautam Gambhir,
Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ohja, Rahul Dravid,
Sachin Tendulkar, V. V. S. Laxman, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra,
Yuvraj Singh, M. Vijay and Wridhiman Saha. |
The champion off spinner is set to retire from Test cricket after the
conclusion of the first cricket test against India which begins on July
18 at the Galle International Stadium.
However Dhoni vowed that his team would not easily gift Muralitharan
the required eight wickets that will enable him to finish his
illustrious career with a magical 800 wicket mark in Test cricket.
Dhoni stated that his team will make every effort to deprive
Muralitharan from achieving his goal that will help him to conclude his
Test career on a high note.
Even then the Indian captain praised the performances of Muralitharan
on the field in the past and was delighted to have the off spinner in
the champion Chennai Super Kings team.
The second Test match will be played from July 26 to 30 at the SSC
grounds in Maitland Place and the third Test match will be worked off
from August 3 to 7 at the P. Saravanamuttu Oval.
Dhoni said that this time the Indian bowling attack will be somewhat
weakened following the absence of two of their main fast bowlers Zaheer
Khan and S. Sreesanth. In addition key spinner Harbhajan Singh is
suffering from a bacterial infection and is likely to miss the three day
practice match against the Board XI which begins today at the Colts CC
grounds in Havelock Park.
Meanwhile Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara stated that they will
play result oriented cricket in an attempt to win the three match test
series against the World’s number one team.
The dashing left hander said that he would like to see a result in
all three test matches but was disappointed that the Umpire Decision
Review System (UDRS) will not be implemented during this series. He
urged the ICC to make the UDRS a compulsory for all test matches for the
future benefit of the game.
Sangakkara said the International Cricket Council (ICC) should
seriously consider using the review system on a permanent basis to avoid
human error at crucial stages of the game.
“At high levels of umpiring you get things right about 92 percent of
the time. But the eight percent is also now important at the high level
the game is played these days,” Sangakkara said.
Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said under the ICC
rules, the host country needs the consent of the visiting team to use
the review system. “We are very much in favour of it. When we checked
with India, they were not happy to have it,” Ranatunga said. |