Preview: India vs Sri Lanka - Tri-Series 2013

By Admin
Preview: India vs Sri Lanka - Tri-Series 2013
What

Match 3 – India vs Sri Lanka – of the Tri-nation ODI tournament, also featuring hosts West Indies.

When

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Where

Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

The Teams

India

Riding high on their Champions Trophy triumph in England, the Indians flattered to deceive in their opening game of this tri-series. Barring Rohit Sharma (60) and Suresh Raina (44), the batting misfired. The bowlers did force the West Indies No.11 batsman at the crease while defending a modest total, but failed to deal the vital blow. Going into their second match of the tournament, India will experience a further setback with the absence of captain MS Dhoni. The Sri Lankans will surely look to exploit this situation as the Indians take the field without their astute skipper and master finisher. (Also READ: MS Dhoni Ruled Out, Virat Kohli Named Captain of Tri-Series)

Sri Lanka

Like India, the Sri Lankan team too fell victim to the sluggish Sabina Park wicket and the West Indian bowlers in their first match of the series. While Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews did score a fifty each, Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles have shown in the first two matches that the key to posting a good score is one batsman dropping anchor for most of the innings.

Key Players

India

Besides their biggest nemesis, Virat Kohli, Sri Lanka will be wary of Rohit and Raina, given their current form. The two, on the other hand, will be hoping to convert their starts into big scores and hold the innings together.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka will require the sagacity of either Jayawardene or Kumar Sangakkara, if not both, at the crease for the longest possible time as they take on an attack that has a good mix of pace and spin bowling to suit the conditions on offer.

Form guide

India LWWWW (Most recent first, last five completed matches)
Sri Lanka LLWWL

Pitch and conditions


The conditions at Sabina Park have meant batsmen have struggled for fluency in the first half of the match and they are likely to stay the same. It is a slow pitch with some lateral movement early on, but it eases out during the second half. Just like West Indies did both times, the team that wins the toss will prefer to field.

Stats and trivia
  • India and Sri Lanka have played 41 ODIs against each other in the last five years - that is 15 more than the next most-prolific match-up of Bangladesh-Zimbabwe. Overall, the two teams have met each other 140 times in ODIs, also a record. Australia-West Indies have played against each other 135 times.
  • It's not a surprise then that three Sri Lankans and four Indians have scored more than 1000 runs in such contests in the last five years, the top-seven batting efforts against a particular team. Shane Watson, with 930 runs against England, is the eighth batsman in this list.
  • The India and Sri Lanka bowlers haven't done quite as well as their batting counterparts. It's understandable since most of these matches are played on flat wickets. For wickets taken against a particular opposition in the last five years, three Sri Lanka bowlers are in the top 10 for doing it against India. Lasith Malinga is there, too, but the opposition in his case is Australia. Only one India bowler - Zaheer Khan v Sri Lanka - makes it to the list.
Squads

India: Virat Kohli (capt), R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ambati Rayudu

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dilhara Lokuhettige, Shaminda Eranga, Rangana Herath, Mahela Jayawardene, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachithra Senanayake, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Thirimanne

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Story behind Yusuf Pathan jersey No. '999'

By Admin
Image
Like in life, in sports too there are people who remain an enigma. At least to those who watch them from the outside. They fascinate and frustrate in equal measures. At times, one feels they are surviving on their reputation and not its execution. But these enigmatic geniuses often find someone who understands their worth, who believes in them as much as they believe in themselves. Yusuf Pathan is an enigma. Everyone knows of his supreme leather-pounding power and they love him for that. But to their dismay they don’t see that skill being converted into runs. But those close to him and his team mates see what others can’t. His Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, Gautam Gambhir, surely does.  Questions have been raised about Pathan’s place in the KKR Playing XI since the beginning of the 2012 IPL. And with every low score against his name, they have gotten louder. In IPL 2013, Pathan has played three matches so far and scored 18*, 0 and 27.  They’re not big scores ...
Read more

List of Sachin Tendulkar's 110 Teammates

By Admin
Image
As the longest serving and illustrious cricketer of modern times — 199 Tests in 24 years of Test cricket — Sachin Tendulkar has had the pleasure of having more teammates than any of his contemporaries such as Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Brian Lara. (Also Read:  Sachin Tendulkar's 200 facts ) Tendulkar made his debut at the age of 16 against Pakistan and hence held a six-year lead over the Australian Ponting and South African Kallis and almost a seven-year lead against fellow Indian middle order batsman Dravid. He began his international career one year before Lara. Set to play his 200th and farewell Test at the Wankhede Stadium from Thursday, Tendulkar added two more teammates in Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma and Bengal’s Mohammad Shami who were capped against the West Indies last week at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. This took his teammates tally to 110 teammates, one behind England’s Frank Woolley (111 in 64 Tests) and seven behind England’s Graham Gooch (118...
Read more

Rohit Sharma 264 Runs - Report: India vs Sri Lanka, 4th ODI, Eden Gardens, Kolkata

By Admin
Image
Propelled by Rohit Sharma’s magnificent double-century, India marched to a 153-run win in Kolkata. While Eden Gardens celebrated 150 years, Rohit lit-up the stadium with a well paced 264 off 173 to make the occasion memorable. In doing so, he etched his name in the history books by posting the highest individual score in ODI cricket and became the only batsman to post two double hundreds in the 50-over format till date. It was breathtaking knock by the opener that set-up the match for India. The hosts then bowled the visitors out for 251 to take a 4-0 lead in the series.  (Also Read:  Rohit Sharma 264 Runs - Stats: India vs Sri Lanka, 4th ODI ) Post by Indian Cricket Team Updates . Coming out to open with Ajinkya Rahane after India elected to bat, Rohit made the Sri Lankans regret the missed chance to send him back when he was batting on four. The opener taking the aerial route was dropped by Thisara Perera at third-man.  Having received a life, Rohit who wa...
Read more