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India meet Sri Lanka tomorrow

India, led by experienced wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia, take on Sri Lanka tomorrow in the opening match of the three- nation one-day cricket tournament in Abu Dhabi.

Pakistan, the third team in the tournament, will play their first match, against Sri Lanka, on December 1, and then take on India in the last match on December 2.

"Preparations have been completed for the inaugural tournament and we are getting a good response from cricket enthusiasts," said Inamul Haq, general secretary of the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council (ADCC).

The three-day tournament coincides with the UAE's national day celebrations.

An artificial pitch has been laid at the Al Jazira stadium where the three day/night matches will be played.

The three teams are expected to arrive today. Besides Mongia, the Indian team will include Gyanendra Pandey, Vinod Kambli and Rohan Gavaskar.

Sri Lanka will be led by Chandika Hathurusinghe instead of Hasan Tilakratne, who pulled out of the tournament at the last minute because of personal reasons. Sri Lanka will also avail the services of Ruwan Kalpage, Eric Upashantha, Suman Jayantha, Mario Vellavarayan and Chaminda Mendis.

The Pakistani squad will be led by former skipper Rashid Lateef and will include some exciting players like Shahid Afridi, Saleem Elahi, Akhtar Sarfraz, Arshad Khan, Kabir Khan and Nadeem Khan.

UNI