Struggling Sri Lanka search for morale boost
Match facts
Thursday, February 5, 2009Start time 14:30 local, (09:00 GMT)
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The Big Picture
How do lift your side less than two days after their worst-ever home defeat - that too for a dead rubber? That's what Mahela Jayawardene has to figure out ahead of the fourth one-dayer at the R Premadasa Stadium. Of particular concern is their bowling, which was toothless against the rampaging Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag on Tuesday. Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis were handled with ease and even the usually accurate Farveez Maharoof leaked runs. The fielding has been below par as well, grassing chances on a regular basis, and the batting is inconsistent.Sri Lanka's ODI record against major teams since the 2007 World Cup makes for sorry reading - the Asia Cup triumph and the recent win against a turmoil-ridden Pakistan are outweighed by home losses to India (twice) and England, the poor show at last year's CB series, and defeat in the Caribbean.
India, on the other hand, have little to worry about; even their spinners, who hadn't been among the wickets till the third game, are firing. Another victory will help them break the record for most wins on the trot by an Indian side in ODIs but Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said the focus is more on testing the bench strength.
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Tillakaratne Dilshan hasn't shown the explosive form that propelled Sri Lanka to their come-from-behind series win in Pakistan. India got a taste of how dangerous he could be during his cameo on Tuesday, when he walked down the track to take on the quick bowlers.Praveen Kumar may not come out on top when bowling speeds are measured but he has the priceless ability to swing the new ball both ways on most surfaces. That allows him to make crucial early breakthroughs - Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist early in both finals of last year's CB series, and Sanath Jayasuriya with his first ball on Tuesday.
Teams
With the series in the bag, India are looking to experiment. That could be good news for Irfan Pathan and Rohit Sharma. With a packed schedule ahead, at least one of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma is likely to be rested. India haven't yet announced their XII though.
India: (from) Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan
Chamara Kapugedera's lean trot continued with his low score on Tuesday but he is likely to retain his spot - his appointment as vice-captain for the Twenty20 side shows how highly the selectors rate him. One change they could make is bringing in either allrounder Angelo Mathews or Jehan Mubarak for Dilhara Fernando to bolster the batting.
Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Chamara Kapugedera, 7, Angelo Mathews, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Ajantha Mendis
Pitch and conditions
The pitches in the two games so far at the Premadasa have been totally different. While the first one stayed more or less the same through the match, the one used for the second game was a batting paradise in the first half but offered the spinners alarming turn and bounce during the Sri Lankan chase.
Quotes
"We are not looking at the record. Rather, we will give chance to players who didn't get a chance to play in the series so far."Mahendra Singh Dhoni is clear on what his priorities are for the remainder of the series
"We need our best team to win the next two matches, which is very important to get back the confidence."
Mahela Jayawardene knows that unlike India, Sri Lanka don't have the luxury of experimenting
Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo