India will face Sri Lanka in the finals of the tri-nation Compaq Cup at the RPS in Colombo, after the hosts had beaten the visitors in a dress-rehearsal to the finals. In that last league game, Sri Lanka thrashed India by a whopping margin of 139 runs, and would have seriously dented the Indian team's confidence.

India will have to rethink their strategy for the finals. Especially if they suffer the misfortune of batting second on a pitch that has everything going for the bowlers under the lights. For one, they will need to ensure that the target is nowhere in the region of that which was set in the previous game. Getting to 300 under normal circumstances is difficult enough, but on a track which has the bowlers jumping in glee, it is an exercise in futility.

Secondly, the batting will need to come much better than what they did earlier; a change in the batting order is a must. For example, Rahul Dravid presence in the middle order may be reassuring but at number three, he is batting a tad too high. His main purpose in the team is because of his excellent technique, and these wickets are not a test of technique, but that of getting as many runs as possible when the ball is new and hard. Dravid needs to be dropped down the order, and probably get a Suresh Raina or even a Yuvraj Singh to the number three slot.

For Sri Lanka, the ball seems to have got rolling again after the two T20I losses. Their batting is gelling well as a unit, and Sanath Jayasuriya return to form means that the middle order does not go into bat with as much pressure as it would when he was not scoring the runs. This also means that the pressure is off Tillakaratne Dilshan to keep scoring in the same vein as he has been doing throughout the past three or four months.

Angelo Mathews has obviously been impressive, but I will be more interested in seeing how Ajantha Mendis bowls to the Indian batsmen. He was held back from bowling in the previous game, till the Indians had lost eight wickets, but one can be rest assured that he will be their lynchpin in the finals. Just like the finals of the Asia Cup which had seen him run through the Indian side after they had not seen him in the previous game, Lanka would look to use the same strategy; whether the Indians are able to play Mendis well enough remains to be seen!

Tag :- Ajantha Mendis   Asia Cup   Compaq Cup   India   Rahul Dravid   Sanath Jayasuriya   Sri Lanka   Suresh Raina   Tillakaratne Dilshan   Yuvraj Singh