The Sri Lanka tri-series is a perfect opportunity for India to start its campaign for the World Cup. The opposition is going to be pretty good and so the matches will give an indication to the management of the areas where they need to focus on.
There has been a realization that there is scope for improvement as the 4-1 loss in the West Indies brought the team back on earth after the wonderful performances at home. It once again shows that on pitches and in conditions that they are not familiar with, the Indians tend to struggle a bit. The batting is not much of a problem but the bowling on benign pitches can be a headache as opposition batsmen can take them apart and it’s here that selecting the right combination is important.
We have been told that the pitches in Sri Lanka will be slow and afford more than a bit of turn but then the selection of the squad makes it appear that India is going to play on the faster and bouncier pitches of Australia and South Africa.
They have no less than five new ball bowlers on these supposedly slow pitches unless of course Irfan Pathan and R.P. Singh are considered slow too. If anything, India should have gone in with an extra spinner to balance the squad and with the World Cup squads limited to only 14 players India should also pick only 14 for all the tournaments leading up to the World Cup only to see which combination is the best. Inevitably there will be one or two players who won’t get to play and with the announcement of the team for the Champions Trophy to be done early next month, those who don’t play may actually thank their stars since it means they haven’t failed and so cannot be dropped.
Sri Lanka will obviously start as the favorites having won the second Test against the South Africans to win the series.
The team have certainly shown more character and determination since Mahela Jayawardene took over as captain from the injured Attapatu. He has shown remarkable form and clearly the burden of captaincy rests easy on his slim shoulders. He and Sangakkara have been absolutely special in recent times and with Murali bowling like the magician he is and Jayasuriya proving there’s still a lot of fire left in the belly the hosts will be extremely tough to beat.
They also have a good crop of youngsters and so there’s enough bench strength there, in case they want to rest some seniors for a game or two. Their fielding too has come on in leaps and bounds and this is one area that the Indians need to improve considerably if they are hoping to make an impact in the World Cup. The South Africans must be pretty demoralized after their defeat in the second Test by one wicket because that one wicket would have helped them to level the series.
They also will be playing under a new captain in Mark Boucher and so may take time to get used to his style of leadership. Still there’s plenty of experience there in Pollock, Ntini and Boucher himself and if the mercurial Giibbs can keep his mind on the game and not give the impression he is bored then the South Africans will be tough opponents.
They will be looking to that fabulous win over Australia when they chased a record total to win and one is pretty certain that its one video that the Proteas coach will be playing to boost his team’s morale.
All in all it looks a close contest with the hosts the favorites but one-day cricket turns so fast that only a fool will predict the winner.
