Tri-series final: Batting-heavy India strong favourites against inconsistent SL

Three times in 33 completed games: that's how many times Sri Lanka have beaten India in ODIs. Add to this the fact that Sri Lanka's tri-series final against India on Sunday will be their first final in any ODI tournament featuring three or more teams since 2009, and you begin to understand the scale of the task at hand for an ever-improving Sri Lanka unit.

India, meanwhile, are pretty close to the textbook definition of well-oiled machine: their batting has been clicking, their spin attack - led by Sneh Rana - has been penetrative and dogged, while their fielding (arguably their weakest link) has been more good than bad. The weaknesses are few.

But, on Sunday, all that fades into the background. Sri Lanka will be buoyed by self-belief with the memory of that momentous Asia Cup triumph, where they had beaten India ten months ago, albeit in the T20 format. But if that defeat wasn't a reality check for India, their loss to Sri Lanka in the round-robin stage of the ongoing tri-series will have, no doubt, allayed any complacency that might have been setting in.

On that note, here are some of the key talking points ahead of what could be a riveting final in Colombo.

India have scored in excess of 300 in four of their last ten ODIs - including one score over 400 - and in two more of those, they have scored at least 275. In fact, the only games in which they did not exceed these benchmarks were when they were chasing. Suffice to say, India's batting is on song.

In that sense, how Sri Lanka manage - or fail - to contain this Indian batting unit will go a long way towards deciding the tri-series final. During their two group meetings, the first saw India capitalise on the better of both the batting and bowling conditions to steamroll Sri Lanka. But in the second, Sri Lanka managed to keep India below 300, and then nervelessly chased 276 down.

Sri Lanka themselves will admit their best chance at victory will be to win the toss and chase, but India have the personnel to make the flip of a coin irrelevant.

You take Chamari Athapaththu out, and you take out half of Sri Lanka's batting. That used to be true for the better part of the last decade or so. But of late, Sri Lanka's batters have shown that they can get the job done even without their talismanic captain's contributions.

Against India last time out, Athapaththu's 23 off 33 balls was just one of several - eight - double-digit scores that helped Sri Lanka hunt down 276 with the likes of Harshitha Samarawickrama and Nilakshika de Silva stepping up. And against South Africa before that, Athapaththu contributed just 6 runs even as Sri Lanka chased down a middling target of 236. Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari put their hands up on that day.

But while that bodes well for the future of the side, Sri Lanka's best batting potential can be realised when Athapaththu is in full flow. Sri Lanka's highest successful ODI chase, and their only one above 300, came courtesy an all-time great knock of 195 by their captain. But since then, in 13 innings, Athapaththu has had just two scores over fifty, while averaging only 24.07. That last one, though, came against South Africa on Friday, and Sri Lanka will be hoping that that signifies a timely return to form, especially in the lead up to the ODI World Cup later this year.

Across the tri-series, Sri Lanka have been arguably the best side at capitalising in the middle overs. In both their group-stage wins, against South Africa and India, they bettered their opponents between overs 10 and 40. However, at both the start and finish of games, any pressure created has been released.

South Africa struck 114 runs in the final ten overs on Friday, while even during their win against India, Sri Lanka leaked 70 runs in the last ten overs despite having limited India to just 151 runs through the middle.

Sri Lanka's failure to capitalise on the platform set in the middle overs with both bat and ball has been a genuine weakness in their game, and one that India will be keen to exploit. Particularly, as India, with the likes of Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma lower down, have the explosiveness to turn losing positions around.

The heat has been a trial in and of itself across this series, with the South Africans in particular struggling to handle it over long periods. But, on Sunday, the weather forecast points towards a slightly more bearable day's play, with the potential of overnight showers leading into a cloud-covered morning and afternoon.

If these conditions come to fruition, then that, combined with it being a Sunday final - one with free entry into the stadium - should (hopefully) mean the stadium fills up more than it has for the round-robin games.

Runs, too, have been plenty this series, despite Khettarama's reputation as a tough-scoring surface. With a fresh pitch set for the final, the conditions are primed for another engrossing contest.