 The final of the Asia Cup will be played between India and Sri Lanka at
Dambulla. The two sides had qualified for the final by beating Pakistan and Bangladesh
each, and then played a dress rehearsal of a game at Dambulla yesterday. Sri Lanka
made mincemeat of a lacklustre Indian side to win the game with almost 13 overs
to spare.
The two sides will go into the game knowing where they stand. India will realise
that beating Sri Lanka in a final in their own home is as difficult as
beating Australia in Australia. Especially if the Indians fail to win the toss
and are asked to field first. The Pakistani bowling was not strong enough to
prevent the Indians from chasing down the total of 268, but the Indians will
realise that against the Sri Lankans attack in a pressure game like the final,
this score will suffice on the Dambulla wicket.
Click for Live Score Card of Sri Lanka Vs India
But, this is where the Indian problems will begin as their bowlers have barely
been in the kind of form that one would expect them to be. Zaheer Khan
has been going for runs but has at least been picking up the wickets. The others
have not been able to do much and that is the one reason why India may contemplate
playing three spinners in the game, a third one in the form of Ojha to complement
the pair of Harbhajan and Jadeja.
The batting for India will start with Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir, and
there will be a lot of expectations from the latter. Virat Kohli has looked
out of form and will need to get to a big one against his favourite opposition,
while Raina needs to bat at four.
Sri Lanka will get back their main guys, but thanks to that Farveez Maharoof
hat-trick, the side will not look to change him around for sure. Sri Lanka will
have the same start to their innings, with Dilshan opening with Tharanga, and
to be followed by Jayawardene and Sangakkara, but how they manage their batting
after that is a bit of a question-mark.
Muralitharan will be back, and so will be Malinga, and with Kulasekera's ability
to get the ball to nip about - especially under the lights - it will be a very
potent bowling attack.
Sri Lanka will go into the final as favourites, and it will need India
to do something superlative to win this.
|
