With their bowlers looking quite ordinary, India will heavily rely on
their in-form batsmen to to do the job when they take on a confident Sri Lanka
in the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament here tomorrow.
While the Indian bowlers have not made much of an impression on the batting-friendly
track at the National stadium, the batsmen have made amends by chasing down big
totals in the tournament so far.
The script could unfold in a similar fashion in the summit showdown tomorrow,
though the Indians will be keen to improve their bowling and fielding to be
able to counter the islanders.
Blazing starts from the pair of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag
have so far set the pace for India and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will
be hoping that the two openers click again so that there is less pressure on
the middle order batsmen.
Thrice in the super league stage the batsmen either piled up or chased big
totals and their only defeat in the competition was the one to Pakistan in the
super league stage when the bowlers could not defend a total of 308.
Irfan Pathan, who returned to the side against Pakistan after missing
the first three games due to a side strain, has been most expensive and the
weak link in the bowling line up for the Indians.
Indians need to do some serious thinking on their bowling combination because
left-arm spinner Prayug Ojha has not looked as dangerous as either Sri
Lanka's Ajantha Mendis or Muttiah Murlitharan.
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