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Cricket

Randiv, Sri Lanka board say sorry to Sehwag

Suraj Randiv has apologised to Virender Sehwag for his deliberate no-ball that prevented the Indian opener from scoring a century.

Suraj Randiv has apologised to Virender Sehwag for his deliberate no-ball that prevented the Indian opener from scoring a century. The Sri Lankan cricket board secretary, N Ranatunga, also called up the manager of the Indian team and apologised on behalf of the team for the incident which saw Randiv deliberately over-stepping in order to prevent Sehwag from getting to the century.Misses century>

The situation was like this. Sehwag was batting on 99 and the Indians needed five runs to win the game. The first ball from Randiv scooted so low that it went through the wicket-keeper as well and through to the boundary for four byes. This meant that the Indians now needed one to win, and Sehwag was still on 99. The next ball was patted towards the covers, but the third ball of the over saw Randiv over-step and the batsman smacked him for a six. Not within the spirit of the game>

The problem was that once he had over-stepped, the game was over, and the Indians had won. This meant that Sehwag did not get those six runs, and had to be content with an unbeaten 99 instead. The replays showed that the no-ball was so big that it could have only been deliberate.

Later, Kumar Sangakkara is said to have spoken to the Indian coach, Gary Kirsten and assured him that he would have a word with his team. Similarly, the cricket board has decided to launch a probe into the matter.

Speaking to the media, Sehwag said that this was the second time this had happened against India. The first time was in Cuttack in 2009 when Lasith Malinga had decided to bowl a wide to not allow Tendulkar to get to his century.