 The Indian team has been hit by injuries from the very start of the Sri Lankan
tour. And even before that! Their mainstream bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth
missed the tour due to the various niggles to begin with. Sachin Tendulkar
and Gautam Gambhir then pulled out of the one-day leg series. Now, India's middle-order
batting star Yuvraj Singh is down with dengue and was not a part of the game against
Sri Lanka.
India was under pressure in the Sri Lanka match after their shameful 200-run
defeat in the first match against New Zealand, but more so, because of the lack
of personnel. The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had cited the poor
pitch conditions, toss-factor and floodlights as the as the reasons for his
team's poor performance in the previous match.
However, Sri Lanka had managed to defeat New Zealand in the second match of
the series under similar conditions. The Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara
had then almost taunted the Indian captain by saying, that a good team must
be able to win a match even if they have to bat under the lights.
With hardly six months left for the World Cup, India still has to address
some major issues before deciding their probable team for the big event. Yuvraj,
who is recovering from an injury has been in a poor form lately. There is also
a question about absence of an all-rounder in the team and at this point Ravindra
Jadeja seems to be the only viable option with Indians.
There is also a constant tussle between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
for a spot in the batting line up. Bowling department also has its share of
concerns with the lack of consistency in the bowling of Ishant Sharma and Abhimanyu
Mithun. Even Dinesh Karthik doesn't seem to be promising enough to play the
role of an opener. To add to that, Karthik was hit on his thumb before the Sri
Lanka game.
Even those who are in Sri Lanka, have their own issues. India almost missed
their bowler Ashish Nehra in the Sri Lanka, with a muscular injury in
it. Ishant Sharma was also uncertain to play and Dhoni had said that his bowling
hopes would rely on Munaf Patel, who hasn't featured in this series so far.
That India won the game was thanks to the bowling of Praveen Kumar and Ravindra
Jadeja, and then some matured batting of Virender Sehwag. Yet, this team
does not look like it is prepared to win the World Cup.
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