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MUMBAI: The Emerald Isle, Sri Lanka will play host to a One Day International Tri Series involving New Zealand and India. The Compaq cup will see a star studded commentary team from Ten Sports including Tony Grieg, Ian Bishop, Mike Haysman and Arun Lal
Currently at no. 2 in the team ODI Rankings, India will be the hot favourites in the tournament. But given the unpredictable nature of the game, the contest between the three teams will be fierce. For India, all eyes will be on Rahul Dravid as he makes a return to One Day cricket after almost two years.
The Indian side, have had a break from International cricket and to get the boys back into a match fitness state, a conditioning camp was organized at the national cricket academy in Bangalore. The main focus of the camp was fitness and dealing with the individuals, on a one to one basis was the newly appointed fitness trainer - Ramji Srinivasan along with the support staff of Coach Gary Kirsten and the mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton
For the Black Caps, the One Day version is much more their cup of tea as they have won six and drawn one of their last eight series. Captain Vettori, reiterated this fact when he confessed that , they were indeed stronger in the limited-overs format because it suited some of the boys better. He felt that with the experience of playing Test cricket in the region, would have strengthened a few of the players for the limited-overs series. He had high hopes especially for the batsmen in the side. New Zealand have some personnel changes, such as fast bowlers Kyle Mills, Shane Bond and Ian Butler and relative rookies Brendon Diamanti and Neil Broom, but the core group stays the same.
The hosts, Sri Lanka would look to take advantage of the home conditions. In the ICC ODI rankings they do stand a poor 7th , and would look at the tri series to move them to a higher position. With stalwarts such as Sanath Jayasuriya in their ranks, the younger members of the squad will only benefit with his presence. At the age of 40 its not surprising that he has played the most number of one day international cricket than anyone else in the world. In his 20 year career he has played in 435 matches amassing 13202 runs with his highest score of 189!
The action will unfold from September the 8th. With the sides gearing up for the Champions Trophy, later in the month, this series will be fought in full earnestness to gain that crucial psychological edge. Sri Lanka and New Zealand are part of the same group with India in the other.
All the action from the tri-series can be seen live on Ten Sports.
This series promises to prove most detractors wrong, that one day cricket is slowly dying. With close encounters that New Zealand, Sri Lanka and India can provide in the 50 over set up just goes to show that all formats of the great game of cricket can exist independent of each other.
