Patil promises keen series

CHANDIGARH, Feb 1: India Masters take on Sri Lankan Masters in three-nation World Masters cricket series opener at the Punjab Cricket Ass...

CHANDIGARH, Feb 1: India Masters take on Sri Lankan Masters in three-nation World Masters cricket series opener at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium at S.A.S. Nagar near here, tomorrow. The tourney, is being organised by the Punjab Cricket Association as part of the celebrations to mark 300 Years of the Birth of Khalsa. West Indies, the third side in the tourney, start their campaign on February 9 at Jalandhar against India. The final of this league tourney will be held at New Delhi on February 13.

The Indian team, to be led by the dashing Sandeep Patil, arrived in the City this afternoon and promised to reverse the result the main Indian team suffered against Pakistan yesterday. However, Patil was candid enough to admit that “It would not be that easy. The Lankans have shown good form and it should be a highly competitive match. We have to play to our full potential to come out trumps.”

The Lankans, on the other hand, were yet to arrive till late evening but under Duleep Mendis, they have a side not short on `experience’.

The 40-overs-a-side match will start at 10 a.m.

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Sandeep Patil further said, “We (Masters) love playing on the circuit now. We may not have big money thrown in but the fact that we are still getting a chance to play competitive cricket, keeps us going.”

Welcoming the Indians, M P Pandove, secretary, PCA, assured them of good playing conditions.

Teams
India: Sandeep Patil, Chandrakant Pandit, Roger Binny, Yashpal Sharma, Salil Ankola, Raghuram Bhatt, Chetan Sharma, Sanjeev Sharma, Ashok Malhotra, Suru Nayak, Raju Kulkarni and Kiran More.
Manager: Prakash Kelkar.

Sri Lanka: Duleep Mendis, Lalit Kaluperuma, Asanka de Mel, Ashley de Silva, Don Anurasiri, Brendon Kuruppu, Madurusinghe, Asoka de Silva, Lanthra Fernando, Hemanth Devapriya, Mahesh Gunatilake, Flavion Aponsu, J C Gamage and Guy de Alwis.

Umpires: Jasbir Singh and Umesh Kumar.

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