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Younis Khan won the toss and put Sri Lanka into bat, the wicket has a bit of grass and moisture in it, but it is not a hard bouncy wicket as projected, the wicket is going to help the spinners on the third day and Sri Lanka is playing both Mendis and Murali, Pakistan has made one change they dropped Sohail Khan and are playing Talha instead.

Since the wicket is going to help the spinners later on the decision of Younis Khan to bat first is debatable.

Pakistan will be relying heavily on Umar Gul to give them some early break through; it will be also a test for Danish Kineria as the wicket does have some patches which could help the spinners. If Danish fails to perform in this match then it will be hard for him to find a place in Pakistan team in future.

Sri Lanka has left out Vaas and is playing Tushara in this match. Vaas was completely ineffective in the first match and Tushara will certainly improve their attack.

Umar Gul has already struck twice, he removed both the openers, so far so good for him, Talha has so far been un impressive he needs to bowl closer to the wicket and try to make the batsman play the ball he is using the wide crease and angling the ball too much, I would also like to see some aggression from him he should test the batsman by targeting their body, he has bowled so far at a lively pace and has also moved the ball away from the left handers.

It’s 55/2,  Jayawardene and Sangakara are batting, the pitch so far has looked good for batting,Younis Khan will have to stop this partnership from developing into a big one or else his decision to field first will come under fire.

Five security men have been killed and two injured when unknown persons attacked Sri Lankan cricket team here on Tuesday.

According to sources, unknown attackers riding on motorbikes opened fire on Sri Lankan cricket team bus near Gaddafi Stadium.

Intense trade of fire occurred between police and unknown attackers after the attack. Five security men have been killed and two injured who were shifted to hospital. Police have cordoned off the area.

Several Sri Lankan players reportedly sustained injuries in the incident. Pakistan team has directed to stay in the hotel whereas Sri Lankan team has been shifted to Gaddafi Stadium.

Manager cricket team told Geo News that Pakistan cricket team will go to stadium after getting the security clearance.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan sports minister has confirmed that two Sri Lankan player wounded in the attack whereas government of Punjab said firing incident is aftermath of rivalry between two land grabber groups.

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Five Sri Lankan players have been injured in a terrorist attack near the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Mahela Jayawardene, Ajantha Mendis, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana are those who are being treated in hospital for minor injuries.

The Sri Lankans were on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium when their bus was attacked by five armed terrorists near Liberty market. A top security official said that five policemen were killed in the shoot out. The incident puts the ongoing second Test in doubt.

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The Punjab Government initially regarded as cross firing between two rival land grabbing mafia groups, but now the reports suggest that it was a targeted terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team. What was the motivation behind this attack and which group is behind it is not known yet, there are powers who want to see Pakistan declared as an unsafe country and  are funding and financing such attacks, there is also political strife going on in  Lahore after the disqualification of Shahbaz Sharif PML-N is staging protests every where in Punjab and at some places the demostrations have not been so peaceful the real cause of the attack and the people behind it has not been identified yet.

MASKED gunmen have opened fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team’s bus in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, killing at least eight people and wounding six players.

Lahore police chief Habib-ur Rehman said 12 gunmen today attacked the convoy near Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium with rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons and were involved in a 25-minute shootout with the security forces.

“They appeared to be well-trained terrorists. They came on rickshaws,” he said.

A police official said two civilians and six police officers who were guarding the players were killed in the attack which happened as the team was heading for the third day’s play in the second Test against Pakistan.

Gallery: Sri Lankan cricketers attacked

Television footage of several gunmen creeping through the trees, crouching to aim their Kalashnikovs then running onto the next target were aired by Pakistan’s private channel Geo.

Broken glass littered the road next to a gun cartridge and an empty rocket-propelled grenade launcher. A police motorbike was shown crashed sideways into the road at the Liberty Chowk (roundabout) in Lahore.

Bullet holes ripped through the windscreen of another vehicle and a white car was shown smashed headlong into the roundabout as nervous security officers guarded the site.

Sri Lankan authorities said six players were believed to have been wounded though earlier reports said eight had been injured.

Local police officer Mohammad Suhail said two players had bullet injuries but were “in a stable condition”.

In Sri Lanka, Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge said Tharanga Paranavitana and Thilan Samaraweera had been taken to hospital in Lahore.

Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardena was also slightly wounded in the foot.

Samaraweera is one of Sri Lanka’s leading players. He became only the seventh batsmen in Test cricket to notch a double hundred in consecutive matches on Monday, scoring 214 after a 231 in the drawn first Test.

The shooting came as the Sri Lankan army pushed its final offensive against ethnic Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country in a civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Fears of attacks by Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda have caused many teams to postpone or cancel cricket tours to Pakistan in recent years.

Australia earlier this month forced Pakistan to change the venue of a one-day series to the neutral venues of Dubai and Abu Dhabi when the two sides meet in April-May this year over security fears.

Australia, which also played Pakistan in three Tests at the neutral venues of Colombo and Dubai in 2002, has not toured Pakistan since 1998.

India also refused to send its team across the border amid heightened tensions in the wake of attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on militants based in Pakistan.

Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are due to jointly host the cricket World Cup in 2011.

Last month, Pakistan’s cricket chief vowed to improve security arrangements for the 10th edition of the four-yearly event and denied there was a risk associated with staging some of the games in the troubled country.

Last month, security concerns raised by other teams forced the ICC to move the 2009 Champions Trophy out of Pakistan.

The elite eight-nation Trophy was to be held in September-October this year but the ICC was to announce a new venue in April.

The event was originally scheduled for last year but was put off after South Africa pulled out of the event and Australia, England and New Zealand showed reluctance to tour because of fears about players’ safety.

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It’s the end of International cricket in Pakistan for forseeable future, at least two SriLankan players have suffered bullet injuries , Srilankan team is flying back home on the earliest available flight, at least five security personel gave their lives while protecting the SriLankan team in a 25 minute shoot out, People of Pakistan are indebted to the SriLankan team and Nation forever.

Those attackers are still in the city, they should be caught alive and the people behind those terrrists should be exposed.

The future of cricket not only in Pakistan but in the rest of the world has also become endangered, the attackers have created a dangerous precedent, terrorists groups in India, Bangladesh and other countries will copy this attack. It’s a shame that our world has turned into such a violent place.

International cricket in Pakistan has been on it’s death bed since the last three years, it was being resuscitated by Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis, the 3/3 attack have effectively terminated the resuscitation efforts and has killed the glimmer of hope which made everybody believe that with a little support International cricket in Pakistan can be brought back to life.

The fans and well wishers of Pakistan cricket might have to wait for another decade for it’s reincarnation.

This reincarnation journey will not be easy as it demands the awakening of a nation from it’s deep slumber.

The nation must realize that the attack in Lahore was not just an attack on foreign cricketers it was an attack on our way of life. We are facing a mortal threat from an army of religious thugs which was created and nurtured by our national army and it’s foreign masters to fight against the Russians, but after the Russian with drawl from Afghanistan, our western allies first demoted these thugs from Mujaheddin to fundamentalists and then to terrorists, they used them like toilet paper and then flushed them into Pakistan.

Our Army has always considered the Taliban as it’s most precious strategic asset as these mercenaries not only fought proxy wars for them but also acted as the first line of defense on the western border during the Afghan war. After 911 Pakistan effectively broke the back of Al Qaeeda but their operations against Talibans were selective and limited, The Americans on the other hand have been employing all kinds of pressure and tactics to force Pak Army to go for an all out war against the Taliban, they have been attacking Taliban hideouts through drones and as a revenge the Talibans intensify their activities in Pakistan,

The Americans have also been brewing up the trouble by giving safe hideouts to Baloch dissidents in Afghanistan and have also released some high profile Taliban fighters from Guantanamo bay, who have returned to Pakistan and are carrying out terrorist activities all over Pakistan. All this is done to form a public pressure in Pakistan in support of an all out war against Taliban.

Since 2004 a new Taliban group came into limelight who is only targeting Pakistan’s strategic interests, Taliban activities inside Afghanistan have been very limited since then, Kidnapping Chinese and other foreign engineers, suicide bombing inside Pakistan, militant activities in Swat and other tribal areas, and now attacking the Sri Lankan players, they have also targeted Indo- Pak relations. The Mumbai attacks almost brought the two countries at the brink of war.

Their strategy is to push the war on terror in Pakistan and continue to stir the pot. While  Pak army is trying to avoid a major conflict with the militants and are resorting to limitied strikes, there is a clear disagreement between the two countries on how to pursue this war. Pakistan is not willing to fight this war on their own soil but it in the absence of a political settlement by an independent party, the continous escalation of militant activities in Fata and terrorism all over the country this war will ultimately be fought in Pakistan, we have no choice but to eradicate this problem.

General Musharraf sold the future of the nation for Aid and international recognition for his illegitimate rule, he is responsible for importing the Afghan War on our soil. He should have pushed the Taliban back into Afghanistan and let the Americans deal with their own problem but he let the Taliban reorganize in Pakistan and used them as a leverage to obtain aid and to remain relevant in International politics.

There is no real ideology behind this war on terror, every body is fighting for their own interests and everybody is playing a double a game nobody is sincere. Militaries and Militants thrive financially in times of conflict thats why Taliban, Pak Army and the Hawks in United states nobody wants a political settlement.

The future looks bleak for Pakistan unless somebody in the military decides to fix this problem.

Since the option of a military action is not feasible for Pakistan, the Government should adopt other measures to weaken the Taliban movement.

The funding sources for Taliban and other militant organizations should be targeted. There should be a ban on fund raising for banned outfits in mosques all over Pakistan. The media should show to the public where the money flows to and how it is being used. The general perception of the people should change their should be no soft corner for the Taliban. They should be looked as an enemy since they have launched an attack on our way of life and are doing every thing to disrupt peace in the country there should be no doubt in anybody’s mind in Pakistan that we are at war with these religious thugs and they pose a clear and present danger to our country.

The Afghan refugees should be sent back to there own country by force or limited inside a walled community.

The rogue Taliban leadership and the heads of militant organizations inside Pakistan who are creating trouble should be targeted, we need to root out this problem but people like Zardari do not have the political will to take such measures, Zardari and Musharraf those who decieved their own nation how can they be sincere with the International community or any cause?

The political turmoil created by chor Zardari is only going to make the matters worse, I don’t expect much from the Sharif bros either it’s the military which calls all the shots in the country but they are too corrupt.

I see Pakistan struggling with this menace for the next two decades until the people of Pakistan decide to take the matters in their own hands.

The people of Pakistan will have to make sure first that the judiciary is independent and then they should get rid of people like Zardari, Musharraf and the Sharif Bros, People should make sure that no foreign power should have any say in as to who is going to govern our country, we do not want a ruler which suits them we want leaders who suit us.

In my opinion, until Pakistan gets a new leadership and the Army is reformed til then its not only the end of cricket in Pakistan but all other major sports and tourism.

No team will be willing to visit Pakistan in the years to come not even the brave Sri Lankans unless terrorism and extremism is up rooted from the country.

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