The second ODI between India and Sri Lanka will be held at Nagpur on Friday. India had just about scraped through the first game by a wafer thin margin of three runs after having piled up 414 batting first. And with Nagpur having had shown its penchant for some big runs, it may not be too different in the second ODI as the runs would be scored aplenty.

The Indians would have thought at the end of their batting effort in the first innings that the game had been won. Not often do you score a 400 plus score in an ODI and then lose it - only once in the history of ODIs has it ever happened - and that is exactly where the game was headed to. That, to me, looked like how the series is going to be played as the pitches on most grounds will be as flat as the one seen in the first game at Rajkot.

And that will mean that both the sides will need to look at beefing up the bowling attack. Indians had gone into the side with three quick and one spin bowler, with part-timers to back them up. However, the quartet looked a little out of touch and it does look like the discharging of Shanthakumaran Sreesanth may help the Indians with an aggressive option. What one felt in the first game that the Indians lacked in the pace and Sreesanth's re-entry could help them with it. However, it remains to be seen whether Sreesanth will be up for it or no, given that he would be suffering from the after-effects of the H1N1 that he was down with.

The rest of the batting should not be affected too much and unless Yuvraj Singh can claim his fitness for this game, there shouldn't be any change in the order. Of course, if he is fit enough to bat, then, Virat Kohli will go out and will be replaced by the southpaw from Punjab.

For Sri Lanka, it was a case of so near yet so far. They first bowled well in the last 10-12 overs of the Indian innings to restrict the Indians from getting to a total of 450 to begin with. Then, they went to bat very well in the top order to get to more than 330 for the loss of only one wicket - before capitulating to the loss. One gets a sense that it will make sense for them to get on a specialist spinner into the attack and Ajantha Mendis could just be the man.

The batting will remain the same. All said and done, the first game has shown that the Indians cannot rest easy on their laurels and will look to try and field much better than what they did earlier.

Tag :- Ajantha Mendis   India   Shanthakumaran Sreesanth   Sri Lanka   Yuvraj Singh