With both teams already in the Final of Compaq Cup, today’s game is almost like practice game for Sri Lanka and India before clashing for the title on Monday. However both teams will look for win to carry momentum towards final of Compaq Cup. India on the other hand will also be keen to win both of the remaining two matches of Compaq Cup to remain Number One ODI Team in the world. After beating New Zealand quite comfortably in their first match they surpass South Africa at top of ICC ODI ranking and now they are number one team in the world. To maintain the ranking they must win remaining of their two matches before going into ICC Champions Trophy. Sri Lanka on the other hand also look to improve there record against visitors which not good as they would liked in last two years. They have lost both the series they have played against India on their home soil and now they will be keen to take the revenge from the confident Indian team. Indian bowlers are also looked in great shape against New Zealand in the first game and same applied to Sri Lankan bowlers also as both team bowlers able to bowl out kiwis for very low scores. It will be interesting to see how they perform against each other against tough components. Batting wise both team looks settled on paper but as we have seen in the two matches played at R.Premdasa stadium any batting team need patience and common sense to score on this type of slow wicket. So batting holds the keys in tolday’s game. Watch out for Sachin Tendulkar: Sachin may not able to score his half-century in the first game but in the manner he played is really threatening for the Sri Lankan. He scored brisk 46 runs of 55 balls in the first game on a pitch where most of the batsman struggled to score. It will be interesting to see how he approaches against the likes of Kulasekara, Mendis and Malinga. L.Malinga: A superb bowling display in the first game gave him much needed confidence he required. He can be very unpredictable and dangerous at times. So Indian batsman need to tackle him carefully to guide India to comparative total. Pitch & Condition The pitch for today’s game will be different from the one used in the game against New ZealandIndia. However the nature of the wickets will remain same. So any team winning the toss would love to bat and put decent score around 225 on the board. and Teams India is likely to go into the game with same XI as played against New Zealand. The same case applies to Sri Lanka also as they don’t like to be beaten by India before meeting them in the final of Compaq Cup. Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 14:30 PM India Time) India Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yuvraj Singh, S Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, R.P.Singh, Ashish Nehra. Sri Lanka Squad: Sanath Jayasurya, T.Dilshan, Kumar Sangakara (Captain & WK), Mahela Jayawardne, T.Samarweera, S.Kadamby, Angelo Mathews, T.Thusara, N.Kulasekara, A.Mendis, L.Malinga. |
