
|

The Sri Lankan stalwarts, including Jayasuriya and Muralitharan, are in such fine fettle as to give opponents nightmares
© Getty Images
|
|
After Monday's curtain-raiser that never was, Sri Lanka and India will
attempt to breathe some life into the Unitech Cup at the Premadasa Stadium
on Wednesday, though another heavy downpour late on Tuesday evening was
perhaps a portent of what lay ahead. Sri Lanka, always formidable
opponents on their own soil, start as favourites, but Rahul Dravid
insisted that the constant talk of security over the past 24 hours hadn't
been preying on the minds of his players. "For others, the focus might
have gone off cricket, but as far as we're concerned, it's always been on
it."
It will need to be, because India's record in Sri Lanka is nothing to crow
about. The hosts have won 19 of 33 matches, with India victorious only on
nine occasions. At the Premadasa, the record is even more skewed, with Sri
Lanka prevailing on 12 occasions to India's five. The past though counts
for little these days, with India having given Pakistan a 4-1 hammering
across the border and Sri Lanka humiliating England 5-0 less than two
months ago.
For the Indians, the return of Sachin Tendulkar, who last wore the
sky-blue one-day kit at Multan in February, is a massive boost, and he
appeared in excellent touch when the team practised at the Premadasa on
Tuesday afternoon. The batting order otherwise picks itself, though fever
and a bad cold kept Mohammad Kaif away from practice. In the event of him
failing to recover, Suresh Raina or Dinesh Mongia will come into the
middle order.
The bowling selection won't be quite as straightforward. Normally, the
Premadasa has a spin-friendly reputation, but with so much rain having
fallen over the past few days, both teams could go in with pace-heavy
attacks. With India having Virender Sehwag, Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh to
share the slow-bowling burden with Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar may have
to sit out, with Sreesanth and Munaf Patel bolstering the new-ball pairing
of Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar.
Sri Lanka, after their romp through England, have no such selection
conundrums. Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga have been in dazzling form
at the top of the order, while Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are
enjoying the sort of purple patches that can best be described as
frightening for opponents, and the exuberant hitting of Tillakaratne
Dilshan and Chamara Kapugedera is usually required only to apply the
finishing touches.
Traditionally, Sri Lanka have triumphed with spin at the Premadasa, but in
these wet conditions, they too might leave out the legspin of Malinga
Bandara in favour of the X-factor pace of Lasith Malinga. Muttiah
Muralitharan will doubtless be the main threat, come rain or shine, and
how the Indian batsmen cope with the questions he poses in the middle
overs might well dictate the outcome of the game.
Squads
India (likely): 1 Rahul Dravid (capt), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Irfan
Pathan, 4 Virender Sehwag, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Mahendra
Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Sreesanth, 11
Munaf Patel.
Sri Lanka (likely): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Mahela
Jayawardene (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6
Chamara Kapugedera, 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Dilhara
Fernando, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11. Lasith Malinga.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo