Preview: Sri Lanka v India – 11th ODI
First Published : 27 Feb 2012, 13:05
Last Modified : 28 Feb 2012, 17:53
What
The eleventh One-Day International of the tri-series competition featuring Australia, India and Sri Lanka. A feeble Indian unit play a resurgent Sri Lanka in this penultimate league game of the CB series tournament.
When
February 28, 2012. The game begins at 08:50 IST.
Where
Bellerive Oval, Hobart. Sri Lanka have already played a game at this venue in this competition, beating Australia by three wickets on February 24. The high-scoring encounter saw Lanka chase down Australia’s score of 280 with four deliveries to spare. India, on the other hand, last played a game at the Bellerive Oval on February 26, 2008 when they beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets.
The Teams
Sri Lanka are the team in form, having won three straight games after having tied the game against India at Adelaide on February 14. One of the biggest reasons for their turnaround in this competition has been the solid starts provided by their opening batsmen, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan. These two batsmen have struck opening stands of 55, 95 and 74 in Sri Lanka’s last three triumphs. The bowling also looks well settled with Jayawardene playing just the one specialist spinner in Rangana Herath (4.03) and the majority of the overs being split between the pacers Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Farveez Maharoof, Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera (combined economy-rate of 4.88).
India can still qualify for the finals provided they win, get the bonus point and Lanka lose to Australia in the final league outing. But for that to happen, their batsmen will first have to put on a much better display than in the last four outings including the tied game against Sri Lanka. With Virender Sehwag struggling at the opening position (highest score in the competition – 20), there is perhaps a case for the Gautam Gambhir opening with Tendulkar with Sehwag going down the order. The bowlers did well in the loss to Australia yesterday and with Zaheer Khan returning to play this all-important game, the prospects look even better.
Key Players
Mahela Jayawardene has been at the heart of Sri Lanka’s revival in this campaign. From making astute captaincy decisions on the field to opening the batting in place of the struggling Upul Tharanga, Jayawardene (270 runs – avg. 54.00) has led from the front.
Praveen Kumar proved just how important he is to India’s fortunes in the last game against Australia. The wily pacer gave India early breakthroughs in that match, which prevented Australia from getting off to a flying start. With an economy-rate of 4.66 from three matches, Kumar will look to give India early inroads into the Lankan lineup.
Trivia
Sri Lanka - The top 5 Sri Lankan batsmen have contributed 169 runs per match on an average in the tournament. The corresponding figure for the Indian top 5 is just 121.
India – The Men in Blue have batted second in all their seven games in the series. Sri Lanka have batted second thrice and Australia, not even once.
Venue Stats
Sri Lanka – played – 7, won - 4, lost – 3, tied – 0, no result – 0
India – played – 4, won – 2, lost – 2, tied – 0, no result – 0
Highest total in an innings: Australia 344/7 in 50.0 overs v Zimbabwe – January 16, 2004
Lowest total in an innings: Australia 120 in 41.3 overs v Pakistan – January 7, 1997
Best individual score in an innings: Adam Gilchrist (Australia) – 172 v Zimbabwe – January 16, 2004
Best bowling figures in an innings: Ottis Gibson (West Indies) 8.4-0-42-5 v Sri Lanka – January 3, 1996
Average first innings score at the Bellerive Oval in ODIs:
In day/night matches: 255
In all matches: 231
Result summary at the Bellerive Oval in ODIs:
|
Type |
Total no. of matches |
Won by side batting 1st |
Won by side batting 2nd |
Tied |
No result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Day-night matches |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
Day matches |
27 |
16 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
Head-to-head:
|
Matches |
Played |
SL won |
Ind won |
Tied |
No result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Overall |
132 |
51 |
69 |
1 |
11 |
|
In Australia |
8 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
At Hobart |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Last ODI meeting between Sri Lanka and India at Bellerive Oval: February 26, 2008
Brief scores: India 180/3 (32.3 overs) beat Sri Lanka 179 all out (47.1 overs) by seven wickets
Form guide in ODIs (most recent listed first):
Sri Lanka: Won, Won, Won, Tied, Lost (3 wins, 1 tie, 1 loss)
India: Lost, Lost, Lost, Tied, Won (3 losses, 1 tie, 1 win)
The Squads
India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Parthiv Patel (wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan & Irfan Pathan
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (c), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachithra Senannayake, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Thirimanne, Chanaka Welegedara, Thilan Samaraweera (standby player)
All stats are as on February 27, 2012
