Sri Lanka are looking the part

Sri Lanka gave a stand out performance against Bangladesh yesterday. Each one of the Lankan cricketers played their part to near perfection. The momentum is clearly with Sri Lanka. India has a mountain to climb.

India needs a dose of inspiration on the field. Although, the batting guns fired against Bermuda, the bowling and fielding were by and large lacklustre. The perils of packing too much experience in the squad ??.

The Indian team management is also faced with the vexing problem of picking up 11 of their best players under the circumstance. It is not going to be easy and it can easily make them look foolish. Will they bring Harbhajan back ? Will they go with the formulaic 3 medium pacers and a spinner. Jayasuriya will feast if there is no swing or pace. Will they gamble by playing Irfan ? Who do they drop in that case. Will Uthappa be given another chance ?. To the extent possible and without losing sight of the job at hand, India will have to try and win with as wide a margin as possible to close the door on Bangladesh. Dravid and Chappell have their hands full.

The Lankans will approach the match with the knowledge that unless they commit hara kiri they are through to the Super 8s. On the basis of the performance in their first 2 matches, the team has more or less picked itself. It is laudable that they have not picked Atapattu on reputation and have given Chamara Silva chances to settle down in his role.

India’s super 8 matches begin tomorrow.