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Mahela
Jayawardene to lead Asia |
May 12, 2007
 Sri
Lanka's Skipper Mahela Jayawardene will be
leading the Asian team for the second Afro-Asia
Cup. A 14-man squad has been picked for the
3-ODI Series and also a playing XI selected for
the only Twenty 20. Pakistan's new Captain
Shoaib Malik will be leading the side in the
Twenty 20 match. Former India all rounder Roger
Binny has been named as the Coach.
The Second Afro-Asian Cup will be held in
Bangalore and Chennai. There is also a Twenty20
Match to be played between the Women teams of
both the continents. The Series is to be played
between June 5th and June 10th. The first
Afro-Asian Cup which was played in South Africa
was a drawn affair with both teams winning a
game each while one game was washed out.
 Representing
India in the 14-man squad are Virender Sehwag,
Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and
Harbhajan Singh. Dhoni has been selected as the
wicket keeper edging out Kumar Sangakkara. Munaf
Patel is the only Indian player to make it to
the Twenty20 team which is dominated by
Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. From Pakistan,
Mohammad Yousuf, Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar
who had missed the World Cup due to injuries
make it.
From Sri Lanka, veteran
Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga and bowlers
Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga will be playing a
part. It is understood that Muttiah Muralitharan
and Kumar Sangakkara will be busy with their
county commitments. Left arm spinner Mohammad
Rafique is the only Bangladeshi to be selected
for the three ODIs. Bangladesh has been
compensated by the inclusion of four of its
players in the Twenty 20 team. The teams were
selected by a selection panel that consisted of
Chetan Chauhan (India), Mohsin Khan (Pakistan),
Lalith Kaluperuma (Sri Lanka) and SM Farooque
(Bangladesh). The Afro-Asian Cup will be
contested for a prize money of 100,000 USD.
Among the notable
omissions from the Asian team are Rahul Dravid,
who himself opted out owing to a packed cricket
schedule and Sourav Ganguly losing out to
younger players. There is also news coming out
that Shoaib Akhtar is not interested in playing
in this tournament citing personal reasons.
Asia
Squad for ODIs:
Sanath
Jayasuriya,
Virender Sehwag,
Upul Tharanga,
Sachin Tendulkar,
Mahela
Jayawardene (Captain),
Mohammad Yousuf,
Yuvraj Singh,
Mahendra Singh
Dhoni (Wicket Keeper),
Chaminda Vaas,
Harbhajan Singh,
Lasith Malinga,
Mohammad Rafique,
Shoaib Akhtar,
Mohammad Asif
Twenty20 Team :
Tamim Iqbal,
Imran Nazir,
Mohammad
Ashraful, Shoaib
Malik (Captain),
Tillakaratne
Dilshan, Shahid
Afridi, Kamran
Akmal (Wicket Keeper),
Farveez Maharoof,
Abdur Razzak,
Mashrafe Mortaza,
Munaf Patel
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