Win or bust for India

After a couple of quiet days, finally something to really get our teeth into as the World Cup hots up, with India needing to beat Sri Lanka in Trinidad on Friday to even stand a chance of getting through to the Super Eight stage.

Having been beaten by Bangladesh in their opening match, India bounced back to hammer Bermuda but nothing short of victory over Sri Lanka will be enough for them to advance beyond the group stage.

That piles on the pressure and it is doubled by the fact that if, as expected, Bangladesh beat Bermuda, India will probably need to beat Sri Lanka by a decent margin to progress.

Bet365 make Sri Lanka 4/5 favourites, with India installed at even money.

From a betting point of view, the important thing is to decide how India will handle the pressure. Will they just try to win the match, playing normally, in the hope that their net run-rate is enough to put them through? Or will they go on the all-out attack in a bid to beat them by a massive margin.

The unfortunate thing, from India's point of view, is that Sri Lanka are a good side who are playing well and enjoying the conditions. Most of their top players are hitting form at the right time and the pressure is off their shoulders as their run-rate is probably good enough to put them through even if they lose to India.

This is a fascinating contest. India will feed off their recent series win over Sri Lanka, while Mahela Jayawardene's side will be confident in their own ability and happy with their form.

It promises to be a close match but the fact that India have to win, and that Sri Lanka will probably go through anyway, means I favour India, but there is not much in it.

Time for class to prevail
On paper, India have arguably the best one-day batting line-up in the world with Virender Sehwag, fresh from his hundred against Bermuda, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid all right up there at the top.

Bet365 can't split three of them at the top of the betting to be top India runscorer, with Ganguly, Tendulkar and Sehwag all 4/1 (5.00) joint favourites.

Robin Uthappa is 5/1, captain Dravid and Yuvraj Singh both 11/2 and Mahendra Dhoni 8/1.

For Sri Lanka, veteran Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara are 7/2 joint favourites, just ahead of captain Mahela Jayawardene at 4/1.

Upul Tharanga is a 9/2 chance and former captain Marvan Atapattu is 13/2.