India will play Sri Lanka in the fifth game of the Micromax Cup tri-series to be played at Dambulla. It is a must-win game for both the sides, as the winner of the game will go through to the final, whereas the team losing the game will need to anxiously look at the result of the last game between India and New Zealand.

Sri Lanka would have been distracted by the way their player Suraj Randiv was involved in the much controversial issue with the no-ball which saw him getting banned by the Sri Lankan board. This meant that the side was without the services of Randiv in the game against New Zealand. It will be interesting to see whether he is selected for this game against India, and if he is selected, then how does he come against a team which will now be baying for his blood.

What will add spice to the fire will be the fact that the Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara accused the BCCI and Virender Sehwag of adding to the situation. He will now be looking to ensure that the side not only gets it focus back for the game against India but also ensure that they play well enough to beat the Indian side.

To do that, the Sri Lankans will need to bat much better than they have so far in the tournament. In the two games played here, the Lankan batting has badly floundered on tracks which have not assisted the batsmen so far. This means that the team will need to change things around a little, like how they attempted to get in Chamara Silva in the New Zealand game and also promote some of these batsmen up the order.

India seem to have made a strategic mistake by trying to get the better of Sangakkara and co. in the Sehwag no-ball controversy. The best they should have done was to keep quiet and let the Sri Lankan cricket handle the situation. For all his coolness, Virender Sehwag spat venom against Randiv and the senior Sri Lankan team which may have only instigated the side against the Indians.

However, that does not take away from the fact that if the Indians need to win the game and go on to win the tournament, they need to bowl as well and bat much better than they did in the previous Sri Lanka game. There is very little to choose from between the two sides, and the team that holds its nerves better will win the game.

Tag :- Kumar Sangakkara   Micromax Cup   New Zealand   Sri Lanka   Virender Sehwag