Indian team who is still sitting above the Lankan’s in CB Series points table with eight points will have to beat Sri Lanka tomorrow to take up the gap of points to some more extend between the two teams. Indian team is likely to back on the theory of playing seven batsman and four bowlers. Sehwag is likely to back in the playing xi while Munaf Patel has to sit out to make room for Delhi dashing opener. Stung by Sunday's debacle when the young batsmen failed to chase down a meager target of 204 runs against Australia, Indian think tank don’t want to take a chance tomorrow nad they are keen on reverting to its seven-batsmen format as they seek to put is across the islanders to revive their hopes of making it to the final. With the host Australia already sitting pretty on top of the tables with 17 points is almost certain for the final; however India is at second position with 8 points from five games while Sri Lanka had six points from four matches Win for India tomorrow at Adelaide oval will make life difficult for the Sri Lankan’s in remaining matches to make it to the final of CB Series. On the other hand a loss tomorrow against Sri Lanka will push them to the bottom of the points table. They will not want a situation where their last league game becomes virtual semi-final. Meanwhile Sri Lanka have played one game less and are taking it easy despite being at bottom of table for now. M. Jayawardene would likely to go with the five-bowler theory which has worked for his teams. Fast bowler Ishara Amerasinghe, who had to sit out of the last two games after an impressive beginning in his first two games due to side strain is likely to play in this match and will replace Nuwan Kulasekara. All the three teams have struggled to come to terms with the new white ball and bowlers of all the teams have had a field day. India needs its batsmen to fire big tomorrow if it has to hold back the charge of the Lankans. Average 1st inning total at Adelaide Oval in last six ODI’s are 212 runs. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni sure would be looking to win the toss and post a big total than the average score to keep themselves in hunt for a place in the final. Match will start from 08.45 AM (Indian Time which will be Day/Night Encounter at Adelaide Oval)
Likely Playing XI for Both teams: Sri Lanka: S.Jayasurya, T.Dilshan, M.Jayawardne (C), K.Sangkara (WK), C.Silva, C.Kapugeda, F.Mefroof, C.Vaas, I.Amarsinghe, L.Malinga, M.Muralitharan. India: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, R.Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma. |
