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Asia Cup: a three cornered tussle
By Marlon Fernandopulle
Despite six countries competing in the eighth Asia Cup the battle for the Asian Cricket crown is all but certain to be a keen contest between hosts Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.

In keeping with the ICC's policy of globalization of cricket the Asian Cricket council (ACC) has included the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hong Kong for this year’s Asia cup. Together with Bangladesh these six teams are drawn into two groups where the teams will first play each. This will be followed by the top two teams in one group playing the top two teams in the other group. At the end of this round the first two teams will play in the final.

Sri Lanka
The Asia cup will provide Sri Lanka an ideal opportunity to prove their mettle as a competent and confident one day team on home conditions. After losing to the Australians at home (4-1), Sri Lanka will have to come up with an extraordinary performance if they are to get the better of a high riding Indian outfit and a powerful Pakistan team .

The Lankans have it in them to be a champion outfit in the one dayers. They need to believe in this and get their confidence levels up and also use the wealth of experience within their team if they are to succeed. It will be another test for coach John Dyson who will also need to prove his credentials as a coach. Dyson has been around for over 10 months, but the former Australian opener has still to deliver what has been expected off him.

Unlike their opponents Pakistan and India, Sri Lanka will be competing in the Asia cup soon after a two test tour of Australia, thus giving the team some form of match practice. The fact that the Lankans are playing in home conditions should also tilt the scales more towards Marvan Atapattu's team. However it will be interesting to see how the Lankans make use of these advantages when they take on their formidable Asian giants India and Pakistan.

Sri Lanka’s selectors which picked the squad on Thursday have named 14 players which includes two players who are currently in England representing Sri Lanka A.

Pakistan
Former England opening batsman and South African coach Bob Woolmer who took charge of the Pakistan team last month will be all out to prove his credentials. Woolmer has a highly talented squad and if he can inspire his players to play to their true potential Pakistan will be hard to beat.

Captain Inzamam ul- Haq, vice captain Yousuf Youhana, Imran Farahat, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan and Moin Khan will form the backbone of the Pakistani batting line up which will be supported by allrounders Abdur Razzak and Shoaib Malik.

Their bowling attack contains all three of their vaunted fast bowlers - Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Shabbir Ahmed. Naved-ul-Hassan, who bowls at a somewhat gentler pace, has also been called up along with allrounder Abdul Razzaq as the Pakistanis aim to blitz their opponents with pace.

India
Souray Ganguly's Indian team will certainly be the favourites at this year’s Asia cup. The Indians have lately discovered a couple of new boys who have risen to the occasion with some fine performances. Mohamed Kaif, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra are some of their latest finds.

Their strength lies in their batting which will be led by their master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and the explosive Virendra Shewag. Together with skipper Sauray Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V. V. S. Lakshman, Yuvaraj Singh and Mohamed Kaif the Indian batting machine looks formidable and capable of tearing any attack to shreds.

The return of medium pacer Zaheer Khan and Harbajan Singh will add the much needed variety to the Indian bowling attack which lacks experience when compared to their batting. However new boy Irfan Pathan who has been a handful in the recent past and the experience of Anil Kumble will give the Indians the much needed confidence in their bowling department.

Bangladesh
Under Dav Whatmore the Bangladesh team has already seen a marked improvement in their performances. Whatmore has transformed the on many occasions they have been observed to lack the consistency and confidence in order to get the better of their opponents.

The Asia cup will give the young Bangladeshis another opportunity to transform their skills into winning. On numerous occasions in the recent past the Bangladesh team has performed in patches, but very often have lacked the finishing touches.

The team which arrived in Sri Lanka at the beginning of this month have played a couple of practice games and accustomed well to local conditions. They will certainly be looking at surprising some of their fancied opponents as they keenly look forward to this years Asia cup.

ESPN /SLRC to telecast
ESPN STAR Sports will telecast the tournament live worldwide while Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation will carry out the local telecast. ESPN STAR Sports exclusive telecast of the Asia Cup will include special preview and review shows, innovations, special graphics and the return of the extremely popular commentary team comprising of Sunil Gavaskar, Wasim Akram, Ravi Shastri, Harsha Bhogle and Alan Wilkins.

Teams: Pakistan
Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Shoaib Malik, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Abdul Razzaq, Moin Khan (wk), Younis Khan, Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed, Shoaib Akhtar, Imran Nazir, Danish Kaneria, Naved-ul-Hasan.

India
Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid (wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Parthiv Patel (wk), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra.

United Arab Emirates
Khurram Khan, Arshad Ali, Abdul Rehman, Ali Asad Abbas, Asghar Ali Khan Tabassam, Asim Saeed, Fahad Usman, Mohamed Tauqir, Muhammad Faward Naeemuddin, Ram Veera Rai, Rizwan Ahmed, Sameer Zia, Syed Maqsood Ahmed.

Bangladesh
Habibul Bashar, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Faisal Hossain, Mohammad Ashraful, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mahmud, Khaled Mashud Mohammad Rafique, Manjural Islam Rana, Tapash Baisya, Tareq Aziz, Abdur Razzaq

Hong Kong
Rahul Sharma, Manoj Cheruparambil, Ilyas Gul, Tim Smart, Tabarak Dar Alex French, Najeeb Amar, Roy Lamsan, Nasir Hameed, Afzaal Haider, Sher Lama, Khalid Khan, Nadeem Ahmed, Graeme Jardine.
The Sri Lanka team yet to be announced.

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