A brilliant bowling performance by Zaheer Khan and company saw India rattle their Lankan counterparts for a mere 142 in the previous clash at Dambulla. Electing to field on a seaming pitch, Zaheer Khan was on the spot from ball one and his four-wicket haul will go a long way in shutting down sceptics who were screaming for his head.
With Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma leading the line, the Indian fats bowling line up looks a formidable lot and they will be expected to cause the Sri Lankan batting line up discomfort in this clash. However, the Indian batting line up needs to improve if they are to go anywhere near the top of the cricket ratings. The older lot of Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar are all absent and while they all struggled against the M&M pair of Muttaih Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, the newer lot seems to fare no better. The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Gautam Gambhir have looked uncomfortable and they will need to pull in their weight much more if they are to make a significant contribution towards a winning cause for India.
Sri Lanka on the other hand, will be cursing their batting line up for throwing away a 1-0 lead in the series. While they were up against a rampaging Indian pace battery, some of the stroke play by the top order defied logic and the likes of Jayasurya, Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena will need to do much more this time around. However, the bowling line up looks to be in the form of their life despite the absence of Lasith Malinga.
The trio of Vaas, Mendis and Muralitharan have looked handy all through the series and Mendis in particular has been unplayable at times. Sri Lanka have had a great deal of success against the Indian cricket post the CB Series debacle and they will be eager to continue that this coming Sunday 24th August 2008 in the 3rd One Day International to be played at Colombo.
0 comments:
Post a Comment