Bad weather keeps India's hopes alive

Bad weather kept alive India's hopes of making the final of the Emerging Teams Trophy when the second-round match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was washed out at the Saravanamuttu Stadium.

The start was delayed until 12.30pm because a certain section of the outfield was still wet. The game was reduced to 38 overs a side and Pakistan chose to bat first, but were dismissed for 159 with one ball remaining.

A sharp shower between innings prevented Sri Lanka from starting their reply, and with conditions not improving, umpires K. Murali and S.V. Ramani of India were forced to abandon play at 4.20pm. Sri Lanka and Pakistan each collected three points.

Sri Lanka made three changes to their side giving opportunities to players who had not played in the first three matches. They included allrounder Farveez Maharoof, batsman Sahan Wijeratne and legspinner Praneth Jayasundera. Maharoof was quick to establish himself by removing three Pakistani batsmen for 33 runs in eight overs to end up with the best figures for Sri Lanka. The wickets he took were of Pakistan's top run-scorers, opener Usman Tariq, Aamir Sajjad and Asim Munir Butt.

Pakistan lost their first four wickets for 66 runs in 20 overs, before Sajjad and Butt added 56 for the fifth wicket off 76 balls to take them past the 100-run mark. But once Maharoof had broken the partnership, the floodgates were again opened and Pakistan lost their remaining six wickets for 37 runs off 32 balls.

Jayasundera was also impressive, bowling his eight overs for only 26 runs although he went wicketless. A feature of yesterday's play was the Sri Lankan fielding which had so far not shone as much as the bowling and batting, with three Pakistani batsmen being run out, two of them from the top order.

However Champaka Ramanayake, the Sri Lanka coach, who has got the team gelling together successfully, was unhappy with the overall fielding. "There is room for improvement and I think they can perform much better than they have so far in the tournament," he said.

Sri Lanka have already qualified for Sunday's final at the R. Premadasa Stadium and finished the round-robin qualifying stage on top of the league with 18 points from four matches. Ramanayake said that the way his fast bowlers have performed he was keen to the go into the final with more than three of them.

"The fast bowlers have been the key to our success. The wickets have been seamerfriendly throughout the tournament and I am hopeful of playing at least four seamers in the final," said Ramanayake. "With Maharoof also showing good form yesterday selecting the final 11 is going to be a difficult task. Maharoof can also bat and that makes him a strong contender for a place," he said.

Pakistan, who lie second with nine points, meet India (three points) today to decide who will qualify to play Sri Lanka in the final. For India to overhaul Pakistan they must win with a bonus point and improve on their net run-rate, which could well be a task too far a team who have not played to their potential.