COLOMBO: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is looking for a consistent all-round performance from his team in the crucial third one-day international against India starting here on Tuesday.It is a must-win tie after the home team lost the first two games of the five-match series but Jayawardene said his side were capable of raising their performance.”We have been in this situation before. You don”t have to tell the boys (to raise performance) because they understand the situation. They understand the mistakes they had made,” Jayawardene told reporters on Monday.”We have to be a bit more consistent with our all-round game. That’’s one area we have to focus on, especially when you are playing against a good team. You can”t keep making mistakes.”The Sri Lankan captain said his team needed to put more pressure on in-form India who had won their last seven one-dayers, including five against England at home last year.”Their confidence is pretty high because they have been consistent in the last six months. That’’s something probably where we lack. If we put more pressure on them, I think we can ask them a few questions,” he said.”We know that if we lose this match, we lose the series. The next three games are very crucial for us.”Jayawardene hoped his openers would give a solid start, especially Tillakaratne Dilshan who had managed just eight runs in two matches.India coach Gary Kirsten said his team were keen to clinch the series with a victory on Tuesday.”Yes, it would be nice if we could finish off the series as quickly as possible,” said Kirsten.”We know we have a lot of work to do but the momentum is with us at the moment. We just have to focus on what we have been doing and give us the best chance of winning the next match.”, he added.
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Suspected militants blew up a bridge in northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pass on Tuesday, cutting the main route for supplies bound for Western forces in Afghanistan, a government official said.
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 2 — Pakistani police began hunting Monday for the kidnappers of John Solecki, the American U.N. official who was abducted in the southern Pakistani city of Quetta.
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Pakistan’s military says it has killed at least 35 Islamist militants in a northwestern valley increasingly overrun with insurgents.
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NEW YORK: Oil prices fell briefly below 40 dollars in New York on Monday as weak global energy demand overshadowed snowstorms in Europe, simmering tensions in the Middle East and strike threats in the United States. New York’’s main contract, light sweet crude for March, sank as low as 39.83 dollars per barrel before ending at 40.08 dollars, down 1.60 dollars from Friday’’s close. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March slid 2.06 dollars to 43.82 dollars on London’’s InterContinental Exchange. Experts expected bearish market sentiment for a while despite production cuts by the OPEC cartel. “It doesn”t change. Everyday, it’’s a contest between OPEC trimming production and the economy loosing jobs. Today the economy won,” said Adam Sieminski of Deutsche bank.”I think we”re going to see a market like this for the next six months, until there is a very clear sign that the economy is bottoming, even with OPEC discipline,” he said. “Psychologically the depression is weighing on the market.” Gloomy economic news “more than offset the impact of cold weather and renewed tension in the Middle East,” said Calyon analyst Christophe Barret.
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LAHORE A UNIQUE precedent of crime has shocked the residents of the provincial metropolis in which police officials, including an SHO, have be
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MINGORA: Nine more people were killed and 11 others injured during shelling and incidents of violence in the Swat Valley on Monday while internally di
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Jordan will strengthen their multi-dimensional strategic partnership, particularly in defence production and business sectors.
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WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has said his administration wants to make sure that Afghanistan is not a safe haven for al-Qaeda and that the in
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KARACHI: Candyland overcame a tough fight from archrivals Data Steel to emerge triumphant in the first-ever bridge tournament to be held here at the H
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