Indian Coach looking for some hard graft

The Indian coach, Roger Binny, is stressing the need for his batsmen to buckle down and be disciplined on Sri Lankan wickets. The feeling in the Indian camp is that the pitches here have a tendency to be variable in pace and thus it can be difficult to play the shots. "The guys will have to work hard to adapt to conditions here and the running between the wickets will become very important."

Nevertheless Binny is confident that his players will adapt, and that they have a real chance of winning this tournament. "We will be taking it one step at a time, and obviously the super eight stage is our first goal. However the guys are confident."

Unfortunately their practices have been disrupted by the unseasonal rain and the security troubles during the last few days. They did complete their practice match on Sunday, which they won convincingly. In an ideal world the batsmen would have had a chance to spend more time at the crease but unfortunately the Galle Districts U19 side could only muster 86.

Their key man, Mohammad Kaif, did though have a chance to acclimitise with a fluent innings of 38 not out. The opening bowler, Mahir Diwaker, was impressive, claiming 2-24. The allrounder Ritender Sodhi chipped in with 2-11 and the slow left armer, Anup Dave, joined in on the action with a pleasing 3-5. Sterner tests obviously lie ahead.

The Management has arranged an extra match on Tuesday to make up for the lost time.