 India hoping to sign off in style in inconsequential match
28th Aug 2008 14:05 IST
Agencies
With the series already in pocket, a relaxed India will take on beleaguered Sri Lanka in the last one-dayer hoping to sign off in style in an inconsequential match at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday.
With Wednesday's 46-run victory fetching India an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series -- ensuring their first-ever bilateral ODI series triumph against Sri Lanka -- the team is upbeat, even though it would be hoping its off-colour batsmen would find their form.
The lone worry stems from the poor form of Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma and the team hopes they too would join the party on Friday.
Though an inconsequential match allows the think-tank to tinker with the team combination, the off-colour players are expected to figure in the playing XI in an effort to help them wriggle out of their bad patch.
There, however, is no such worry with the bowlers who did an excellent job in the series. Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh once again rose to the occasion on Wednesday and helped in containing the hosts with their intelligent bowling.
Another redeeming feature of last night's match was the smart fielding by the Indians after messing it up in the previous ODI.
Experts in Colombo feel the toss was also in important aspect of the strategy and that the visitors benefitted out of it.
"The Sri Lankans also have a good batting line up. They could have scored more runs but for playing under the lights," an official remarked after Wednesday night's match.
In fact Dhoni himself admitted that the toss played a crucial role in the win as it assisted the Indian spinners in the later part of the game.
"It was a good toss to win, there was something in the wicket for the spinners and they got a lot of turn. Even the pacers did well," Dhoni said.
India could last night make up for an additional batsman as Yuvraj played a pivotal role as the second spinner, getting two important wickets.
Dhoni was of the view that unfortunately Sri Lankans were bereft of any long partnerships that could have cost them the game.
continued.. |
