MUMBAI: The Unitech Cup, the tri-series between India, Sri Lanka and South Africa, gets underway on Ten Sports on Monday, 14 August 2006. The channel has announced that former South African opener Gary Kirsten will be a member of its ‘straight Drive’ team.

This announcement comes a few days after the channel terminated the contract of Dean Jones after the former Australian batsman inadvertently let out a remark calling a South African bowler a terrorist. In an official release the channel said, "The highly offensive nature of the comments has no place in cricket, sport and society as a whole and we deeply regret that such comments were broadcast.

"Ten Sports is owned by a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and the company employs a staff drawn from a diverse cross section of nationalities, cultures and religions. We have a zero tolerance policy for any expression of racial stereotyping and prejudice and condemn in the strongest possible terms the comments made by Mr Jones."

Kirsten says, "I am very excited to be joining the team. It will be my first time on Straight Drive and I couldn’t have asked for a better series to be involved in.”

One major activity the channel conducted around this series was the Eleven To Lanka Contest. Basically, anybody could participate. All one had to do was take a picture of oneself along with 10 other people. They could be friends, family or total strangers. It then had to be sent to Ten Sports’ site along with a slogan that explained why your team should be chosen. The channel claims to have received 2,000 entries. The winners will be announced shortly.