MUMBAI: The Sharjah Cup will take place at the original venue notwithstanding the Iraq Conflict. South Africa, one of the teams originally scheduled to participate in the triangular, has pulled out citing security concerns. Surprise World Cup semi finalist Kenya will replace them.

This year's Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup from 3-10 April takes place under the stadium's lights. Pakistan's new captain is Rashid Latif . They also have a new coach in Javed Miandad who must be hoping that the team finds some of the form it showed in 1999 when it finished runner up at the World Cup edition in England.

Readers will recall that at this month's World Cup in South Africa, Kenya defeated two of the other teams who will participate at Sharjah, namely Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Pakistan is in a bit of a mess right now with Akram, Akhtar and company having been given the boot. Therefore, this is another golden opportunity for Steve Tikolo's minnows to cement their position in international one day cricket.

Sri Lanka reached the semi finals of the World Cup and have retained captain Sanath Jayasuriya to lead their team and defend their trophy after last year's victory over Pakistan.

Presented by former Indian star Sanjay Manjrekar, the commentary team will steer us through 10 hours a day of live coverage from the stadium.

The programme lineup is as follows