India vs. Sri Lanka Second ODI - Preview
Tags: India Vs Sri Lanka ODI series preview, India vs Sri Lanka second ODI, India-Sri Lanka one day series
Dambulla: After the miserable defeat in first ODI against Sri Lanka, India is meeting again the confident rivals in the second ODI today. Heart of all the Indian fans are beating faster as the time of match is coming closer. Today will be a tough day for Indian team as the team needs to recover from the last jolt. Badly embarrassed after the last defeat, India needs to effect a swift overhaul in the second ODI here. Today India will have to register a win against the strong rivals to win the ongoing five-match series. If India wins today’s match then they will surely gain a psychological boost badly needed at this moment.
Monday’s eight-wicket defeat came largely because of the disciplined bowling of Lankan bowlers and absence of Sehwag. So today too India will find both the factors in place and whole team will have to come forward to face these factors. Today too the conditions are unlikely to change. Now it remains to be seen how the team India performs in front of these mounting challenges.
Sehwag’s absence is going to be a crucial reason to worry for the Indian side. Much pressure will be there on all the batsmen as in the last match the batsmen were held responsible for the poor show of the Indian team. The top order and the middle order of the team will have a lot of burden on their shoulders. In the last match the lower order performed well and today too the same will be expected from the top and lower order.
The efficient opener Gautam Gambhir failed to shine in the last game so today there will be a chance for the player to prove that he can perform even in the absence of Sehwag. But for this, he will have to leave aside the pressure and reluctance witnessed in his batting in last match. The combine of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis can be attacked with good strategy and determination so the Indian batsmen have good chance today to blow up the bowling attack of Lanka.
So far the Lankan bowling side has proved as the major deterrent for Indian batsmen. In last match Mendis’s first six overs, of which three were maidens, went for just 10. So far the Indian batsmen have failed to understand the bowling actions of Mendis, today too they may face the same difficulty again. But one thing is sure that to win the match Indians surely need to come up with an efficient strategy against this attacking bowler. The fast pace of his bowling always leaves little time for decisions and Indian batsmen need to take the right decisions on pitch in this little time.
When asked about the strategy for today’s match, Dhoni said, “We have to find a way by which we can rotate the strike, if we can’t play big shots, Perhaps take singles off him and Murali, and look to attack the others because you have got to have something on the board. You can’t score 180 or 200 and look to defend that.”
In this match who so ever bats first, will have to give the target between 225 and 250 only then there will be an interesting battle on the ground. Change in the composition in Indian team may help the team to reach that target. So with Sehwag’s departure, Dhoni might reason that the batting could do with the security of another batsman instead of the fifth bowler. S. Badrinath, one of the 10 who attended Tuesday’s optional nets under coach Gary Kirsten, will be in the reckoning in that case.
The spot of Gambhir’s opening partner is a reason of concern as choosing the right partner for Gambhir will be a difficult thing to do. If a good opening is there without losing the wickets then India may be successful in beating the Lankans in second match. On the Lankan side the team especially the bowlers will like to keep maintaining the pressure they have built so far.
The attacking bowling side will again try to go for maidens and disciplined bowling effort. Getting the early wickets again may prove beneficial for the hosts so their biggest effort will be to grab the early wickets. Even if India plays first and gives a challenging target to Lanka, the efficient and versatile batsmen like Jayawardene and Sangakkara will not mind opening their bats to big hits. Overall the position of Lankan team is far stronger than the visitors, rest it remains to be seen how the Indian team recovers from last spine breaking defeat.
The sides (from): Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (Capt.), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Udawatte, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Malinda Warnapura, Jehan Mubarak, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Thushara and Nuwan Kulasekara.
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India: M.S. Dhoni (Capt. & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, S. Badrinath, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, R.P. Singh, Munaf Patel, and Pragyan Ojha.
Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Asoka de Silva; Television umpire: Gamini Silva; Match referee: Chris Broad.


