Asia Cup 2010 : To be held from 15 June

[IKnowU]

Theres better pictures of Melissa Thereau :hitler: :hitler: I want better ones.

[Sachinism]

Everyone hitting on feed :haha: @topic - No **** sherlock

[Guest sachin200]

India look to win first Asia Cup in 15 yrs http://cricketnext.in.com/news/india-look-to-win-first-asia-cup-in-15-yrs/48986-13.html Dambulla: India will aim to set right their woeful record in ODI finals and end a 15-year-old jinx when they take on familiar foes Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament here on Thursday. Their pride *****ed once again by a dominant Sri Lanka on Tuesday, India will also seek to avenge that defeat at the Rangiri International Stadium where they slumped to a comprehensive seven-wicket defeat. Mahendra Singh Dhoni struggled to explain the humiliating loss but the fact remains that India were completely outclassed by the Lankans, who are gradually developing into a powerful one-day side. That they have trounced India in three ODI finals since 2008, besides the victory in the Twenty20 World Cup, indicates that the inspired Lankans would be a hard bunch to be beat even if Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, rested on Tuesday, return on Thursday. Dhoni would also hope to end a 15-year title drought that followed India's last Asia Cup triumph in Sharjah in 1995. Thursday's defeat not only exposed India's batting frailties but also raised questions about some selection issues. With Sachin Tendulkar opting to spend time with his family, India should have had an opening batsman in the reserves. But they chose middle-order batsman Saurabh Tiwary, while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fight for a permanent slot. It didn't come as a surprise when the team management hurriedly flew in Dinesh Karthik as a replacement when regular opener Virender Sehwag suffered a hamstring injury. Another startling gaffe by the team management was the inclusion of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha for the last match. With Sehwag, who had claimed four wickets for six runs against Bangladesh, out of the tournament and Harbhajan Singh rested, Dhoni should have logically played R Ashwin as a replacement for an off-break bowler. But he chose to play Ojha when India already had a left-arm tweaker in Ravindra Jadeja. Evidently, off-break bowlers have held sway right through the tournament but India chose to ignore this fact and paid the price for their imprudence. On the other hand, Sri Lanka have been prudent in their team selection. Every selection made by Aravinda de Silva and co-selectors has been made with an eye on the 2011 World Cup. Dhoni conceded that India had come short in big events, but couldn't put his finger on the actual problem afflicting the team's performance. Nevertheless, he was confident that India could turn things around in the match that matters the most. "We are aware that our performance is not up to the mark when it comes to tournaments involving more than one team. It is really tough to single out one reason for the failures. But we are confident that we can do better this time," said Dhoni. If India don't get their act together tomorrow, they could once again be crushed by Kumar Sangakkara's men who come into the final with their nose clearly ahead after an emphatic win last night.

[Praveen129]

India's poor record in tournament finals India have a poor record in tournament finals from 1999.What are the reasons behind this? Obviously there is some pressure in a final.Maybe it's the inability of players to handle the pressure of a big game.I think they always carry that extra pressure from media & fans.Today they play another final.Even if they win this,it's going to be just the 5th final India win after 1999. http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/team/6.html?class=2;filter=advanced;final_type=1;orderby=start;spanmin1=01+Jan+1999;spanval1=span;template=results;type=team;view=results Won 4 Lost 19 I think this a serious issue Indian cricket should look into because there are 2 knock out stages (Quarter & semi finals) before the final in 2011 WC.So it's important to lift the game in crucial matches.There will be more pressure in a global tournament like world cup.

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Lessons to be learned for cricket's Asia Cup Whether they win or lose, the bowling will continue to be a massive headache for India. More... Lessons to be learned for cricket's Asia Cup Dileep Premachandran June 24. 2010 UAE The Asia Cup never became a centrepiece of the cricketing calendar as its founders might have envisaged when the event was first played at Sharjah in 1984. It did not help either that the competition never grew as some might have hoped. This year’s tournament was never likely to be anything more than a blip on the sporting radar, scheduled as it was slap-bang in the middle of the football World Cup. Football’s European Championships started off with just four teams in 1960, and has since grown to become second only to the World Cup in terms of prestige. The Asia Cup started with three sides and has seldom embraced more than four. When it was expanded in 2004 and 2008, with the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong taking part, it only served to flatter the batting and bowling averages of players from the established sides. Bangladesh, the fourth of the teams to enjoy Test status, have won just two of the 29 games they have played at the Asia Cup. Pakistan have won it just once, at Dhaka in 2000, and crashed out early again after Harbhajan Singh’s heave over mid-wicket in Dambulla. India and Sri Lanka will be looking to become the first team to win it five times when they clash in the final later today. On the surface, it may be yet another nondescript tournament in an itinerary where one event seems to segue into the next. But with the World Cup just eight months away, the Asia Cup has given each of the teams some valuable pointers for the road ahead. Whether they win or lose, the bowling will continue to be a massive headache for India. Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra have not been at their sharpest, while Praveen Kumar offers little once batsmen see off the early swing and work out his changes of pace. With the new ball usually doing little damage, Harbhajan becomes the tourniquet rather than partnership-breaker, and the spin support cast does not yet have the quality to bamboozle quality opposition. At full strength, with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag at the top of the order, the batting strength can be intimidating but when you take those two out, the fear factor disappears. It may have been a match with nothing at stake, but the way in which Sri Lanka’s Farveez Maharoof scythed through the middle and lower order a couple of days ago would have kept the India coach Gary Kirsten’s notebook and pen extremely busy. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have shone intermittently in recent times, but with the two regular openers missing and Yuvraj Singh out of favour, they need to show that they can play authoritative innings with a trophy at stake. Sri Lanka can afford to be far more cheerful. Even with Muttiah Muralitharan rested and Sanath Jayasuriya dumped, there is a pleasing balance to the line-up. While India would give anything for one quality all-rounder following Irfan Pathan’s descent into anonymity, they have two in Angelo Mathews and Maharoof. Mathews, in particular, has been outstanding in recent times. Maharoof, sidelined by injuries and allegedly poor attitude since February 2008, took a hat-trick against India and may yet start the final on the bench. The batting still rides on Tillakaratne Dilshan’s opening flourishes and the solidity and class of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. But in the reformed Thilina Kandamby and the promising Dinesh Chandimal, they have two others who can flourish on the type of placid pitches the World Cup is likely to be played on. Chamara Kapugedera hits the ball hard and long, while Suraj Randiv is apprentice to Murali. They also have Lasith Malinga’s slingshot yorkers, a potent attacking weapon that India have lacked in recent times. The story of this tournament could have been very different had Malinga not snuffed out Pakistan’s challenge with a wonderful final spell in the opening game. He brings that indefinable X-factor, and with India missing theirs, it should be Sri Lanka that hone their World Cup preparations as kings of the continent.

[Roshanrocks]

At full strength, with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag at the top of the order, the batting strength can be intimidating but when you take those two out, the fear factor disappears

:isalute:

[Chandan]

India have a poor record in tournament finals from 1999.What are the reasons behind this? Obviously there is some pressure in a final.Maybe it's the inability of players to handle the pressure of a big game.I think they always carry that extra pressure from media & fans.Today they play another final.Even if they win this,it's going to be just the 5th final India win after 1999. http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/team/6.html?class=2;filter=advanced;final_type=1;orderby=start;spanmin1=01+Jan+1999;spanval1=span;template=results;type=team;view=results Won 4 Lost 19 I think this a serious issue Indian cricket should look into because there are 2 knock out stages (Quarter & semi finals) before the final in 2011 WC.So it's important to lift the game in crucial matches.There will be more pressure in a global tournament like world cup.

Can you quote the records of last 2 years? Because that is what is relevent now. Whatever happened 11 years before doesn't matter anymore as personnels except Sachin have changed.

[Praveen129]

Can you quote the records of last 2 years? Because that is what is relevent now. Whatever happened 11 years before doesn't matter anymore as personnels except Sachin have changed.

June 2008 - June 2010 http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/team/6.html?class=2;filter=advanced;final_type=1;orderby=start;spanmin1=01+Jun+2008;spanval1=span;template=results;type=team;view=results Won 1 Lost 3

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Sangakkara talks tough before Asia Cup final India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, however, insisted his team was not under any added pressure despite being beaten by the hosts by seven wickets in their final pool match. More... 'Winning an Asia Cup at home will be special' June 23, 2010 Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara warned that his team would "hit the ground running" against India in Thursday's Asia Cup final at Dambulla. "A final is a final," he told reporters on Wednesday. "Winning an Asia Cup especially at home would be a special thing. "It's going to really inspire us and we are going to hit the ground running and really try and win it." India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, meawhile, insisted his team was not under any added pressure despite being beaten by the hosts by seven wickets in their final pool match. "As a cricketer you see it as just another game," he said. "There is no point thinking it as a final. We are playing against Sri Lanka, that's it." Dhoni demanded more consistency from his bowlers. "I think they have done decently for us in patches," he said. "It will be really good to win a few games where you put 240 or 260 on the board and win. "You can't all the time expect your batsmen to score 280 or more and make you win the game. "It will be good if we can do that. But then again our strength has been batting. We are a side that relies more on our batting than our bowling." Sri Lanka, who had never batted under lights in their previous two matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh, invited India to bat first earlier this week. "It was another step towards challenging ourselves to get a bit better and a bit tougher," said Sangakkara, whose side is aiming for a hat-trick of Asia Cup wins after winning in 2006 and 2008. Teams India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Kartik, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha. Sri Lanka (from): Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralidaran, Farveez Maharoof, Thilina Kandamby, Chanaka Welagedera, Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv.

[saneindian]

In the last 10 years, we have lost 6 finals to Sri Lanka alone!! Won just 1 final against them. Most of these defeats have been quite comprehensive and we have been thoroughly outplayed on almost eey occassion. But hey, the good news is last time we played Lanka in a final in Lanka, we beat them. So all is not lost yet .

[Roshanrocks]

Dhoni never takes any pressure :dontknow: Only we fans do :

[vvvslaxman]

one is scrapping this tournament.

[zubinpepsi]

send kohli,nohit to school and jadeja to africa..

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Dhoni: Win reward for hard work Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hailed victory over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final at Dambulla as an "ideal reflection" of his side's efforts in the tournament. More... Asia Cup Friday 25th June 2010 Dhoni: Win reward for hard work Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hailed victory over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final at Dambulla as an "ideal reflection" of his side's efforts in the tournament. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hailed victory over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final at Dambulla as an "ideal reflection" of his side's efforts in the tournament. India's bowlers capitalised on an impressive batting performance - that saw them post a total of 268 for six - to record an emphatic 81-run win and secure the nation's first Asia Cup trophy in 15 years. "Its an ideal reflection," Dhoni said. "The guys were putting in a lot of effort, not only in terms of fitness but skills as well and its good that we've won the Asia Cup after a long time. I'm really happy with the performance over here. "I think we got the start that was needed. The batsmen got the start, but couldn't really convert that into big innings, but still we were happy to get 268." And their batting was just a prelude to a scintillating show in the field, with the Indian pacemen Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan shredding the Sri Lankan top order within the first 16 overs as they eventually fell to 187 all out. "I know my bowlers very well," Dhoni added. "The fast bowlers really bowled well. I knew if we could get a few early wickets then we could put pressure on the Sri Lankan batting. "We wanted to get (Tillakaratne) Dilshan out early because even if he stays for two or three overs he can just take 30-40 runs off you, so it was really good that we got him in the first over. The kind of bowling shown by Zaheer and Ashish was one of the best spells I have seen in these conditions." Despite a disappointing loss in the dead-rubber tie two days ago against Sri Lanka, Dhoni insisted the final was all that mattered to his side. He said: "It is a big game, and whatever you have done to get to the final, it doesn't make a difference anymore. Because if you don't win that final you're always talked about as the team that did not really do well, so it was an important win for us." Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara admitted the difference lay in kind of openings both sides had to their respective innings. He said: "The difference was in the first 15 overs, the way we bowled and the way they did, and also the helpful conditions. I think losing four wickets in the top order was not a great way to start." The Sri Lankan keeper also underlined the lack of aggression during their run chase, saying : "I think 269 was probably a chaseable total. I think a bit more application and being a bit more tight in our batting and having a little more of an attacking mindset would have seen us through." He added: "The Indian bowlers hit the areas pretty well with some good lines and lengths and they let the ball do the rest. We weren't really up to the mark from the start and unfortunately succumbed."