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It has been while since India manages to win Asia Cup title in last fifteen years. The 2010 Asia Cup Final will provide another opportunity for the Indians to reverse the trend against the same old-opposition Sri Lanka.

Their pride pricked once again by a dominant Sri Lanka on Tuesday, India will also seek to avenge that defeat at the Rangiri International Stadium where they slumped to a comprehensive seven-wicket defeat.

So far since 2008, Sri Lanka had beaten India three times in the multination tournament Finals. It will require big performance from the Indians to reverse their horrible Finale performance in last few years.

In the last league games, their batsmen have no clue against the likes of F.Mehroof and they knows it will not get any easier in the Asia Cup final with L.Malinga, N.Kulasekara and M.Muralitharan returning to the playing XI.

India need to short out their middle order batting area quickly, they can’t depend in each and every game on Gambhir and Dhoni. Batmen like Kohli, Sharma and Raina needs to perform consistently to put India on right path for 2011 world cup build-ups.

In bowling department also, apart from Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, rest of the bowlers really struggled in this tournament and that will be another worry of concern for the Indians.

The lack of a quality all-rounder is also hampering the Indian side. Ravinder Jadeja a so-called all-rounder has not shown any sign so far in the maximum opportunity he has got from his captain M.S.Dhoni which is another headache for the Indian team.

Let’s hope for the best and keep our finger crossed for better performance from the players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the big Asia Cup Finale.

Watch out for

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli: Both batsmen so far failed to leave upto the expectation in this tournament and the Asia Cup final will be big opportunity to test their temperament. Both batsmen know that they will get very few chance to secure their berth for the World Cup 2011 and there will be no better opportunity than the Asia Cup Final.

N.Kulasekara: When last time he played against India in multination tournament Final, he was the major threat to the Indians as he demolished the top Indian order to help his team to beat India in the tri-series final in Bangladesh earlier this year.

Pitch & Condition

The Pitch at Rangiri international stadium, Dambulla will be the one which was used in the game against India and Pakistan. Team winning the toss would love to bat first to put pressure on the opposition.

Teams

After a heavy defeat in the league game against Sri Lanka, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh is certain to return into Playing XI.

Sri Lanka on the other hand got big selection headache before the Final after superb performance by F.Mehroof against India in the last game and he is sured to retain his place ahead of C.Welegedara.

Likely Playing XI for both Teams (Match is Schedule to begin at 14:30 PM India Time)

India Squad: Dinesh Karthik, Gautham Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (Captain/WK), Ravindra Jadeja, H.Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.

Sri Lanka Squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (Captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Thilina Kandamby, Angelo Mathews, Chamara Kapugedera, Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Kulasekara, L.Malinga, M.Muralitharan.

Stats

It has been long 15 years since India have won the Asia Cup Finals. If Sri Lanka manages to win this won, it will be there third consecutive Asia Cup triumph.

Both India and Sri Lanka have played 15 multination tournament Finals, where India manage to win six and Sri Lanka seven.

In Dambulla, this will be eighth game between these two sides, out of which India manage to win just two out of seven games they have played here.