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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kumar Sangakkara eased his way to his 22nd Test century•AFP

The Test is only a day old but already it appears as though it’s Sri Lanka’s game to lose. As expected, the lambs were led to slaughter. The Indian bowling attack defined mediocrity and Sri Lanka bossed it around in style to reach a strong position by the end of the opening day in Galle. Kumar Sangakkara and Tharanga Paranavitana sealed well-compiled tons as the hosts galloped towards gaining complete control before rains brought an early end to the day’s play.No Test hundred is easy. Especially if it’s scored against a team ranked No. 1 inthe world. However, this was one of the easier hundreds Sangakkara has scored against a top-ranked team. A maiden hundred, though, is never easy irrespective of the opposition and Paranavitana played splendidly to get to his. His celebration was befitting of thelandmark: He screamed in delight, pumped his fists, jumped in joy, and ran almost all the way to the boundary.What stood out was the ease with which Paranavitana and Sangakkara progressed. It appeared as though they were having a net session. India’s weak bowling attack wasfurther handicapped by Harbhajan Singh’s ailment. He hobbled away during the second session and, though he returned to bowl later, was still suffering from the after effects of the injury and illness that threatened his presence in the team. He hardly looked his best and once again disappeared into the pavilion in the final session.Without Harbhajan in his element, India’s attack lacked bite, inspiration and skill, which was reflected in the lines bowled. Pragyan Ojha pinged the middle-and-leg line with a backward short leg and short leg in place. Often, he slipped the ball outside leg. WhileParanavitana swept and worked him behind square leg, Sangakkara backed away to cut from middle stump. Never did it seem that he was taking any undue risk.Harbhajan bowled farther outside off and hardly got the two left-hand batsmen to drive. He had a short cover and a short extra cover in place but the length and line was neverright for the drive. The part-timer Virender Sehwag eventually produced mistakes from the batsmen. Sangakkara, on 65, edged a square drive but MS Dhoni couldn’t catch astraightforward chance and Paranavitana edged an attempted cut but YuvrajSingh couldn’t reach it despite a dive at backward point.For the main part, the batsmen sparkled with pretty stroke play. Sangakkara’s best shot was an on-the-up punch to the straight boundary off Ishant Sharma, who was poor in his first couple of spells. Sangakkara repeatedly tucked and punched Ishant through the on side and used his crease to cut and drive the spinners. He sashayed down the track to crash Ojha to the long-on boundary and swept and cut Harbhajan. Early in his innings, Sangakkara played a couple of expansive shots – one which flew just past short extra cover and the other which vanished over the slips – but he quickly settled down. The trademark Sangakkara hits were on display: the square drive on bent knee, the cover-drive hit with a high front elbow, and the precisely placed cuts and the occasional dash down the track.His partner Paranavitana had started with two edged boundaries in Ishant’s first over but quickly tightened his game. He rarely chased the ball, he rarely tried to play an expansive shot and he rarely looked in trouble. There was a punchy drive through extra cover against Ishant and an off-driven boundary in the same over during the first session. Therewas also a moment of apprehension, when he got a leading edge against Harbhajan in the last over before lunch, but Gautam Gambhir couldn’t react quickly enough at silly point to take it. Paranavitana continued to make merry after the break: He flicked and off drove Mithun, slog swept and straight drove Ojha, and rotated the strike with dabs and nudges.Sangakkara had chosen to bat after overnight rain delayed the start and left the pitch damp in Galle. Though Sri Lanka lost Tillakaratne Dilshan, who gloved an attempted pull against Mithun, they hardly broke a sweat thereafter.The manner of Sangakkara’s dismissal captured the spirit of the day. The ball was a long hop from Sehwag and Sangakkara pulled it straight to Sachin Tendulkar at deep midwicket. It seemed the only way the Indians were going to buy a wicket and it was aptly gifted to Sehwag, the best Indian spinner on view.There were couple of other moments that indicated perhaps the course of the Test. The first was when Ishant got a delivery to kick up from short of a length with a puff of dust from the pitch. A few overs later, Ojha drifted one in from round the stumps, pitched the ball on leg and middle and got it to spin across Mahela Jayawardene’s bat. Muttiah Muralitharan, eight wickets short of 800, wouldn’t have missed either sign.

Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain, has asked his team-mates to be united on the field and off it as they left Karachi to take part in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. The tournament, involving Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be the first assignment for Afridi’s team ahead of a busy summer in England, where they will play Australia and England.”What has happened cannot be changed,” said Afridi, referring to the turbulent last few months. “What we can do is ensure that past mistakes are not repeated. We cannot afford to be a bickering lot and the only way we can give our best is by staying united. What I want is that our team should be united on the field and off it.”I know the importance of having frequent team meetings. It’s also important for all the players to dine together as much as possible and discuss issues openly because these are the things that help boost team spirit.”The recent problems in the Pakistan team surfaced after their winless tour to Australia in 2009-10, following which, the PCB conducted an inquiry and punished several players. Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan were banned indefinitely, Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan for a year, while Afridi, Kamran and Umar Akmal were fined. No reasons for the penalties were forthcoming from the PCB at the time, but a leaked video later revealed the extent of discord within the team. However, all the players apart from Yousuf, who retired from international cricket, appealed against their punishments. The bans on Malik and Younis were overturned by an arbitrator; Afridi’s fine was removed while those of the Akmals were reduced. The selectors then included Malik, who had been slated for his attitude during the inquiry, in the squad for the Asia Cup, and recalled injury-prone fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.Afridi said Pakistan’s squad for the competition in Sri Lanka was balanced. “We have a very solid bowling attack and the batting is also looking good. There is a lot of potential. What we need is to translate that potential into positive results and that’s only possible if each and every player gives his best for the team.”We have a long and challenging tour of England coming up but right now we are completely focusing on the Asia Cup, which is also an important assignment. A good showing in the Asia Cup would be a great start to our World Cup plans.”Pakistan’s first game of the Asia Cup is against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on June 15.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has backed the United States as a prime venue for international cricket and added it is very much in the ICC’s interests to have more locals picking up the sport by taking cricket to the schools. The US, in terms of its massive fan base of immigrants from the subcontinent and West Indies, Lorgat said, had an advantage over other Associate nations as a staging venue. Lorgat also acknowledged it was not possible to get the American audience “excited” through the game’s longer formats, and that Twenty20 was the best medium to draw their attention.”Sometime back there was recognition that the United States was a significant market and a big opportunity to spread the game,” Lorgat said on Cricinfo’s audio show . “There are a lot of people who have got cricket heritage living out in the US. It is a big market. So it is important that we play cricket in the US. I think the size of the market is surely an advantage. The expats who follow the game so richly; it’s an advantage.”Lorgat, however, emphasised the US would not merely be a staging centre. “In the last couple of years in particular, we have been very conscious to get cricket played in the schools,” he said. “We were quite excited when we learnt that the New York police department was playing cricket with people of Indian and Pakistani origin. So it’s very much in our sights to make sure that people within the United States play cricket, and not just [see it as] a staging centre.”The US national team, though, has struggled when taking on the Test teams and Lorgat admitted it could be better. However, he disagreed over complaints that the globalisation of cricket had an adverse effect on the game’s quality at the international level. “Established nations continue to compete against each other. If anything, some of our established nations should be picking up their level of performance,” Lorgat said. “So it’s less about the developing world and their competitiveness. I think it’s about our established nations being competitive themselves.”I think introducing cricket to any nation presupposes that ultimately they would be competitive. It’s fair to say that by now they [USA] should have been a lot more competitive than they presently are. But we have said that they should be making a lot more progress. They have appointed a chief executive, if you recall, just about a year ago. The signs are quite positive, and I am quite optimistic.”Don Lockerbie, the chief executive of the USA Cricket Association, had admitted Twenty20 remained the preferred format for increasing the following for cricket in the country but also believed there lay a potential for the longer formats, too, to take off. Lorgat, though, was skeptical of the prospects for Tests and ODIs in the US. “For the people in the US who are accustomed to fast and short time spans, introducing Test or one-day cricket would simply be not possible to get them excited,” he said. “Twenty20 is a format, that without doubt in my mind, you would get people in the United States excited with.”

Three fast bowlers have been picked unanimously in Cricinfo’s all-time Pakistan Test XI. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan each received 10 votes from a jury that included Ramiz Raja and Intikhab Alam among others. The only other unanimous selection was Javed Miandad, in the middle order.No current Pakistani player makes it to the side – unlike in five of the six all-time XIs named by Cricinfo so far. The most recent retiree was Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is at No. 5 in the order, with nine votes. Mohammad Yousuf, who received four votes, and Shoaib Akhtar (one) were among those who didn’t make the cut.Historically fast bowling has been Pakistan’s strength, and it is a sign of how highly the fearsome and influential spearheads of the side’s 1990s attack were rated that both were picked unanimously. While the two Ws made the XI purely as bowlers, Imran also serves as the side’s allrounder. There was no consensus over the third quick bowler, though: Fazal Mahmood, who received three votes, edged out Sarfraz Nawaz and Shoaib Akhtar.Wasim Bari and Rashid Latif were tied with four votes each for the wicketkeeper’s place. Latif was picked for his superior batting.The jury opted for an opening combination that would provide a mix of strokeplay and stoic defence: Saeed Anwar (six votes), who attacked no matter what the format or situation, and Hanif Mohammad (nine), who gave up his naturally aggressive style and dug in for several marathon innings to complement the stroke-making of his team-mates.At one-down is Zaheer Abbas (six), the only Asian batsman to make over 100 first-class hundreds.Only two members of the jury did not pick Abdul Qadir, who revolutionised legspin in the 80s and paved the way for the likes of Shane Warne and Anil Kumble, as the team’s lone slow bowler.Qadir also made it to the readers’ XI, getting more than half the votes polled in the spin category, comfortably ahead of Saqlain Mushtaq. Latif narrowly missed getting the gloves in the readers’ XI, losing out to Bari. The readers preferred Shoaib as the third fast bowler over Fazal. All their other choices matched those of the jury.The jury included Salahuddin Mulla, who played Test cricket for Pakistan in the 1960s, cricket writers Qamar Ahmed (who also played first-class cricket and coached Netherlands) and Kamran Abbasi, and former administrators Shaharyar Khan, Arif Abbasi and Chishty Mujahid.The XI: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Fazal Mahmood, Abdul Qadir, Waqar YounisMore on the XI hereThe readers’ XI: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Wasim Bari, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis.The nominees
Openers: Aamer Sohail, Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Majid Khan, Mudassar Nazar, Sadiq Mohammad, Mohsin Khan.Middle order: Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saleem Malik, Mushtaq Mohammad, Younis Khan, Asif Iqbal, Saeed Ahmed.Allrounder: AH Kardar, Imran Khan, Intikhab Alam, Mushtaq Mohammad, Wasim Akram.Wicketkeepers: Wasim Bari, Imtiaz Ahmed, Rashid Latif, Moin Khan.Fast bowlers: Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Fazal Mahmood, Sarfraz Nawaz, Shoaib Akhtar.Spinners: Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Iqbal Qasim, Danish Kaneria.

Overview

Short on intensity, brought down by the short ball, India failed to beat any regular side bar Bangladesh last year•Getty Images

It seems like yesterday. In their title defence, at the World Twenty20 last year, India had failed to beat a single regular side bar Bangladesh. Gary Kirsten was complaining about IPL fatigue. They lacked, he said, the “intensity that you need at the international game”. The other game, the IPL, had started a few days after their back-to-back series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and finished about a week before the World Twenty20. “We come into the tournament without being able to connect with the players at all. We also had players who were carrying niggles into this tournament.”It so seems like yesterday, for the rest of the time between the two World Twenty20s has been one blur of series after series, ending, yet again, with the IPL. Starting early September, India have been to Sri Lanka for a tri-series, to South Africa for the Champions Trophy, have played in the Champions League, a seven-ODI series against Australia, hosted Sri Lanka for a full tour, have been on a full tour of Bangladesh, followed by a quickie from South Africa, and finally the IPL.It also seems like yesterday because MS Dhoni’s departure press conference was almost identical to the one last year. Fatigue and tight schedules, he says, are the reality for an India cricketer. You just shrug your shoulders, and get on with it. And he is the kind of player and captain who will get on with it. At least he knows the selectors haven’t chosen players carrying niggles. Or so we are told.Kirsten, whose complaints last year didn’t exactly endear himself to the men who decide when the cricketers play whom, again pointed towards the disadvantage India start with. “The Indian players may feel the heat of it more,” he said, “because all of them played in the IPL, but our responsibility is to go out there and ensure that we are well prepared. We will do what we can in these circumstances.”He knows, and the team knows, they have to get up to the “intensity you need at international level”. Knowing this is the reality of an India cricketer, time to shrug the shoulders and get on with it. Then again it can’t be so bad: as reluctant participants, they had done the same in the first issue of the World Twenty20.

Strength and weaknesses

That there is enough firepower in the side is beyond doubt. Even in the absence of Virender Sehwag, it is a batting line-up to contend with. There is enough balance in the side to be able to play four specialist bowlers and one out of Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan. The bowlers world over know there isn’t much time for ducking and leaving in Twenty20s, and also that the young Indians are not the best attackers of the ball headed for the throat, so there will be bouncers on display. And on flat pitches, Indian bowlers have not been the best around when the slog is on.

Twenty20 pedigree

India haven’t exactly been a hot Twenty20 side since their title triumph in the inaugural event. Since then they have lost seven matches and won five, including ones against Ireland and Bangladesh.

Key men

Suresh Raina, coming off a fifty in the IPL final, is the form player, and will have to transform that promise on the big stage. He will want to score a majority of the middle-order runs.In the absence of Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir has a big job to do at the top.Harbhajan Singh‘s role will be significant on the slower tracks in the Caribbean.

X-factor

A charged-up Dhoni can be the difference between a lethargic side and an inspired one, as he showed on more than one occasion in his IPL side’s winning campaign. He has the makings of India’s greatest captain ever, and is one of the best going around in the world today. And captaincy – one extra second of calmness, one field placement in a crucial over, one choice of a part-time bowler – can be the game-changer in Twenty20s.

Vital stats

Steve Waugh, the former Australia captain, has backed day-night Tests and suggested some unorthodox tweaks to revive interest in one-dayers.”I would have loved to play day-night Test cricket,” Waugh said, speaking to Harsha Bhogle on Cricinfo’s Opening Up interview show. “I think it is exciting, brings another dimension to the game.”People want a bit of change, they want that excitement. Why not bring that into Test cricket? We have got it in Twenty20s. Let’s get a pink ball in and play a day-night Test if it is possible.”Waugh said the concept needed to be thought through, however, since it wouldn’t work everywhere. “Obviously in England it is not really possible because it doesn’t get dark till 10 o’clock in summer. Maybe in the subcontinent the dew might make it impossible. So you’ve got to have common sense around it as well.”Waugh was optimistic about the future of Test cricket. “Quality always survives,” he said. “As a cricketer I think you’ve got to be true to yourself. Why did you take up the game? To fulfill your potential, and you can’t do that by playing Twenty20 because you can’t bat for a whole day and you can’t bowl 30 overs. And as a cricketer I think it wouldn’t be that satisfying if I couldn’t get out there and technically, mentally and physically challenge myself against the best players in the world over five days.”Waugh said a way to spruce up one-day cricket, especially the middle overs, could be to convert fours to sixes and sixes to nines to get the batsmen to play more shots. “Maybe the bowlers won’t be too happy, but on the positive side, they have more chances of getting wickets when the batsmen are attacking them.”He was also in favour of giving the bowlers more incentives to restore balance in the game. As a member of the MCC’s World Cricket Committee, he said he had discussed some radical ideas to that end. “We talked about the possibility of getting the seams a bit larger, even increasing the number of seams to eight.”The biggest change, Waugh said, between the time he played and the present was in the physiques of the players. “In our days you looked at the gym, but you never went in there. These days the guys are big, it’s all about power and speed in Twenty20 cricket. They are hitting the ball long because they are much stronger.”Waugh, who started out as an allrounder in the mid-80s before maturing into a gritty middle-order batsman and the captain who presided over an Australia side that conquered all in its path, said the present was the best time in the sport’s history to be a top-order batsman in Tests, since so many fast bowlers were breaking down and opting out of the format.Though players are stronger, Waugh said there are more instances of injuries today because diagnosis is available more easily. “You’ve got a million people around the side. As soon as you get an inkling, you are off to the MRI scan, which will pick up a strain. Fifteen years ago they probably would have played with those strains. But now, as soon as it’s diagnosed everyone’s got a responsibility, so they say you’ve got to have 10 days off to recover.”The full interview is here.

Graham Onions, who was forced to pull out of England’s Test series against Bangladesh with a back injury, will be travelling with Durham when the county champions play MCC in a floodlit four-day game in Abu Dhabi in the opening fixture of the English season at the end of the monthOnions is not expected to play in the match, however, and is making the trip as the first step in his recuperation. It is expected he will be fully fit by the time Durham take on Essex on April 15.”His injury doesn’t seem too bad, so we hope he will have a quick recuperation,” Durham coach Geoff Cook told . “England have asked us to take him to Abu Dhabi to help with his rehabilitation. We will be aiming to have him ready for the first county match against Essex.”Mark Davies, the fast-medium seamer who was called up from the England Performance Squad to the Test squad in South Africa as cover for James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom, will also be going to Abu Dhabi to aid his rehabilitation after he had an operation to remove some floating bone from his ankle earlier this month.In a break from the traditional season opener at Lord’s, MCC decided to transfer the fixture to Abu Dhabi in order to ensure it would not be blighted by poor weather, and to trial the use of the pink ball under floodlights – with a view to paving the way for use of the innovation in Test cricket.”Some counties are forsaking pre-season tours, and we would probably have been in that boat were it not for the MCC meeting most of our costs,” added Cook. “Some people seem to think we have loads of money because we are champions, but for all the counties at the moment making ends meet is quite tricky.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Michael Klinger’s sixth List A century sealed a comfortable win for the Redbacks•Getty Images

Four-wicket hauls from Aaron O’Brien and Daniel Christian, backed up by opener Michael Klinger’s sixth List A century, boosted South Australia to a comfortable six-wicket win over Western Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Christian’s was an all-round effort: he smote six fours and two sixes in his quickfire 48 and handed his team a bonus point just in the nick of time, off the final ball of the 40th over. The win propelled the Redbacks to third place after having played eight games, while the Warriors, after squandering a solid start from their top order, find themselves at the bottom.The Redbacks captain Daniel Harris turned to O’Brien’s left-arm spin after the pace attack had failed to break a steady partnership between Wes Robinson and Liam Davis. The pair added 73 before O’Brien bowled Harris through the gate. Robinson marched on, aided by his captain Marcus North, and promised to construct another threatening stand, but an ill-timed slog-sweep ended his knock.The dismissal had a domino-effect, for the middle order crumbled to relentless spells from O’Brien and Christian – they grabbed five wickets for 17 in just a little more than five overs. North, whose innings had seven boundaries, watched helplessly from the other end but a ray of hope emerged in the form of Ashley Noffke, whose 30-ball 26 reignited the possibility of posting a competitive total. O’Brien hit back, grabbing two wickets in an over, but North, taking the bulk of the strike and finding the boundary at the death, offered his bowlers something of a chance.As it turned out, North’s efforts proved inadequate. Klinger’s application at one end ensured a healthy run-rate, despite his opening partner Harris’ slow scoring. The Warriors’ momentary high when Harris and Tom Cooper fell within a space of ten runs dissipated in the wake of a surge in scoring from the batsmen who followed. Cameron Borgas contributed a run-a-ball 38 amid Klinger’s constant efforts to pierce the field, and Christian, thanks to a perfectly-timed Powerplay in the 34th over, launched an unforgiving assault, fetching 57 in five overs to drag his team within reach of the bonus point and a comprehensive victory.Klinger was named Man of the Match for his century. “I made a sort of an effort after the first 15 to get as many ones as I could,” he said. “I knew it would be easier to get boundaries in the first 15, and after that [I would] just try to hold it together with singles as well as I could.” He reserved special praise for Borgas, with whom he added 71 for the third wicket. “Borgy’s been playing that role really well all year and he’s having a great year in both forms [Sheffield Shield and 50-over],” he said. “He came in and ticked [the scoreboard] over straight away, which was exactly what we needed.”

The offspinner Nooshin Al Khadeer has been recalled to Indian squad for the first two matches of the one-day series against England starting February 19 in Bangalore. Jhulan Goswami will lead the side, and Amita Chopra, like in the 2009 World Cup, will be her deputy.Al Khadeer, a former No. 1 ranked international bowler, was not part of the World Cup in Australia or India’s squad for the World Twenty20 in England last June. From the squad that played the World Cup – which was India’s last one-day assignment – the notable absentees are Reema Malhotra, Sulakshana Naik, and Snehal Pradhan.England, the world champions and World Twenty20 champions, will be playing five one-dayers and three Twenty20 matches. The tour will open with a warm-up match against Board President’s XI in Bangalore on February 17. The city will also host the first two ODIs on February 19 and 21. The next two matches have been scheduled for February 24 and 26 in Visakapatnam, with Mumbai’s MIG stadium hosting the final ODI.Squad: Jhulan Goswami (capt), Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra, Rumeli Dhar, Amita Sharma, Priyanka Roy, Anagha Despande (wk), Poonam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur, Thirush Kamini, Gouher Sultana, Nooshin Al Khadeer, Preeti Dimri, Sonia Dabir.

Mohammad Asif’s return to the venue of his international debut turned out to be a little more memorable than the Test five years ago. He didn’t take a wicket then and was hit around by Adam Gilchrist, a performance that saw him dropped from the side for the next year.But on a greener pitch, under overcast skies and on a rain-curtailed opening day, Asif ran through Australia’s middle and lower order, picking up a career-best 6 for 41 as the home side crashed to 127 all out. Five years, he said, had seen him a changed bowler.”We were already down 2-0 by then, and we had a few injuries at the time as well,” Asif said. “I didn’t really do anything much at the time and I got dropped after that. But I have got another chance now.”There is a difference in confidence obviously since then. I was a newcomer then and now I’m here as a main bowler, and that is a big difference. Also, in five years I have just changed a lot, matured a bit, learnt quite a lot. There have been quite a few technical changes over that time.”Asif’s methods were simple and similar to what he had done on a similarly grassy surface in Karachi against India in 2006, his breakthrough performance. Michael Hussey, one of his victims, compared his mode of attack to Glenn McGrath. “I just tried to bowl on the right areas and tried to swing the ball,” said Asif. “Today was perfect. The conditions were very helpful for bowlers.”Pakistan had been asked to bowl first after Mohammad Yousuf lost his second successive toss and though Ricky Ponting’s decision surprised a few, given the conditions, Asif said Pakistan had expected as much. “We were not surprised actually. We saw in the last two Tests that they decided to bat first and knew that Ponting likes to bat first on winning the toss.”Asif said his first wicket – knocking the top of Michael Clarke’s middle stump – was the pick of his victims. “That was I think the ball of the day today. The two balls before were outswingers and the one that took his wicket, that ball was coming in and he was totally deceived.”