 While the length of the league stage in the Commonwealth Bank Series provides
opportunities for teams to recover from bad patches without being out of contention
for the finals, the teams are nonetheless keen to avoid any slipups, especially
during the seemingly innocuous middle phase of the tournament. Such thoughts would
also be in Sri Lanka and India's minds as they gear up for their third
meeting against each other on Tuesday.
Click for Live Score Card of India Vs Sri Lanka
India have performed creditably better than their woeful time during the test
series. While some issues still remain to be fixed in the engine, the drive
has been relatively smoother lately. During their previous two meetings with
Sri Lanka, they registered a scrappy win in the first while a thrilling tie
ensued in the second one. Across those two meetings, different players have
contributed to the team's total. With an eye on the next World Cup to be played
in Australia, India are keen to give their young guns an extended run
as they continue to rotate their openers. Virat Kohli will again be watched
with plenty of expectations attached.
Sri Lanka have also fared reasonably better than their wretched story over
the past twelve months. Their last match, against Australia, resulted in a thumping
victory, thereby allowing them to not only gain valuable points but also massively
improve their net-run rate, that might come in handy later in the tournament.
Sri Lanka will take heart from the impressive return-to-form shown by Tillakaratne
Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, in addition to captain Mahela Jayawardene
who took the onus and elevated himself to opening the innings.
With Dinesh Chandimal also in good touch, the batting is finally looking to
click together. Amongst the bowlers, Farveez Maharoof impressed in his
comeback match with 2-18 off eight overs and could prove to be more than a handful
against India in Brisbane.
India will be slightly favourites here given their most recent record but they
will be wary of the Sri Lankans, who have lost both their games narrowly, tied
one and won one of the games they have played so far.
The day/night match starts at 1.20pm local time at the 'Gabba Brisbane.
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