 The final of the Micromax Cup tri-series will see India taking on Sri Lanka at Dambulla. The game will be played on Saturday, August 28 and will
have the Indians want to defend their title that they had won last year by beating
Sri Lanka and New Zealand in the tri-series.
India qualified for the final with a rather convincing performance against
New Zealand. In the four games that they played, they won two and lost
two. The matches that they won were as one-sided as the ones that they lost,
and hence, it difficult to gauge where they are standing. What makes prediction
even more difficult is the fact that the side has won one game batting first
and one game whilst batting second, which makes it unusual.
Click for Live Score Card of Sri Lanka Vs IndiaIt is not as if India is the only side which showed inconsistency. The Sri
Lankans have been equally inconsistent in this series. They were routed in the
first game against India, but came back well to beat New Zealand. Then, in their
second game against India, they blew the side out for 103 to win the game with
almost 35 overs to spare - their biggest win over the Indians.
The Indians will need to bat much better than what they have so far in the
tournament. Even in the games that they won, the batting relied heavily on Virender Sehwag, who has already got a 100 and a 99 in the tournament. So, if he
plays well, India will have a good chance of winning, but if he does not, there
is a good chance that the finals may turn out to be a one-sided encounter.
What needs to be noted is the toss. It has often been said in the tournament,
that the team batting first at Dambulla has a huge advantage, but if one were
to look at it, out of the five games, the team batting second has won the game
thrice. What needs to be done is to win the toss, bat first and score at least
240 - which, on this track should be a match-winning total given the windy conditions
and the amount of swing that the bowlers get from the surface.
For India, apart from Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs to recapture
the kind of form that had seen him get to an average of 50 in ODIs. Without
that, the middle-order looks very weak and will make it easy for the opposition.
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