India, SA arrive to warm welcome

Both Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly and his South African counterpart Hansie Cronje declined to speak to the press. “We will talk at the stadium after practice tomorrow,” the two captains told waiting reporters. Indian coach Kapil Dev also did not wish to say anything, obviously because everyone appeared tired after Sunday’s keenly-fought match at Nagpur between the two teams.

The two teams were driven straight from the airport to Holiday International hotel where they will be staying.

The Pakistani squad, led by ace wicket-keeper Moin khan, is scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday.

India take on South Africa in the opener on March 22 and the next day they will meet arch-rival Pakistan in an encounter which is being keenly awaited by the large expatriate crowd from the two countries.

All the matches will be day-night affair at the majestic 25,000-capacity Sharjah Cricket Ground with the final slated for March 31.

The winners will take home 50,000 US dollars, runners-up 30,000 dollars and the third team 20,000 dollars. Besides, there are several other individual prizes like Man-of-the-Match (1000 dollars), Man-of-the-Final(1500 dollars), Man-of-the-Series (3500 dollars), best bowler, best fielder and fastest fifty (1000 dollars each), most boundaries in a match, most sixes by a batsman, top scorer in the championship and top wicket-taker (1000 dollars each) and the Player of the Tournament who will be given a car.

Preparations are at full swing and the stadium is being given a facelift by the organisers, the Cricketers’ Benefit Fund Series (CBFS). Two pitches are being prepared by the groundsmen for the seven matches, including six league encounters, to be played for the annual cricket carnival in the tiny Emirate.

The beneficiaries for the tournament are former seamer NG Nadkarni, current India selection committee chairman CG Borde and former left-arm spinner Maninder Singh from India and Pakistani skipper Moin Khan and Saeed Anwar, who is out of the present squad because of injury. The CBFS will also make a contribution to the cricket development programme in South Africa.