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India hopes to finish series on high note
India will be eager to continue to stamp their domination over Sri Lanka and finish the seven-match rubber on a rousing note.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:53 AM IST
Read Time:4 min
Vadodara:
Having outplayed the visitors right through the series, India will be eager to continue to stamp their domination over Sri Lanka and finish the seven-match rubber on a rousing note in the final one-dayer on Saturday. Everything has gone well for the home team, including the experimentation of resting some key players and asking rookies to stand up and be counted, while almost nothing has clicked for the islanders who would be equally anxious to prevent another drubbing from India before returning home. India are going into the last clash with a commanding 5-1 lead in the series that has seen the two teams traverse across the length of the country from Mohali in the north to Pune in the south-west. Another victory will be the ideal boost for the hosts before the best-of-five series against South Africa commencing in a few days. Newfound confidence The high point of the series for India has been the way the youngsters in the team have come up with superb displays when needed. A prime example of this newfound confidence in the newcomers was the way Lucknow-based left arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh performed at Rajkot in the previous tie on a pitch that was largely expected to help the batsman. R P Singh's four-wicket haul, which earned him the man of the match, must have done wonders for his morale. So too have been the key roles performed earlier in the series by other youngsters like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Venugopala Rao, who has given way to senior Mohammed Kaif on the latter's return from injury. Ideal tonic Coach Greg Chappell had been talking of waking up the players from their 'comfort zone' since he took over as coach five months ago and this seems to have been achieved in a spectacular fashion. But the important task is to carry on the good work for the long season ahead and another win for India would be the ideal tonic for them prior to their confrontation against a high-in-confidence South Africa who are arriving on the back of a big win at home over New Zealand. The IPCL ground is among the favourites of Sachin Tendulkar who has gone off the boil a bit in the latter part of the series after returning to international cricket with a bang at Pune where he scored an impressive 93. The 32-year-old champion batsman has struck two glorious hundreds for winning causes at this venue, a knock of 115 against New Zealand in 1994-95 and a stroke-filled 122 off 135 balls against South Africa in 1999-2000. Another big one from the maestro might just become the icing on the cake of triumph for India in the series. Aggressive captaincy It would be a big occasion for 21-year-old left arm speedster Irfan Pathan too as it would be his maiden ODI appearance at his hometown after having played for India on 43 previous occasions. Skipper Rahul Dravid, who skipped the previous game to get some rest, has led the Indian charge brilliantly from the front with the bat as well as with his aggressive captaincy. He would want to finish off what he started commendably, when India wrapped up the series with a 4-0 lead at Pune, with another thumping success. Most of the home team batsmen have clicked, including Yuvraj Singh at Rajkot, but a big innings has eluded the punitive blade of Virender Sehwag who has got the starts without making a single half-century. The Indian pace bowlers have also done well considering the conditions in which they have been asked to perform, while Harbhajan Singh has rediscovered his penetrative skills under the tutelage of Chappell whom he had slammed in a public outburst in the aftermath of the Chappell-Ganguly spat. Enormous burden The Lankans would be hoping fervently that their most successful batsman Sanath Jayasuriya gets into the groove, if chosen for the match. Jayasuriya's performance in the series has been nothing less than disappointing after suffering a freak shoulder injury at a swimming pool back home during the squad's conditioning camp for the tour. After being the scourge of the Indian bowlers in previous encounters between the two teams, the left handed marauder from Matara has tallied a paltry 85 runs from six innings in the current rubber with 27 as his highest. His failure with the bat, and inability to bowl his effective slow left arm stuff on spin-friendly surfaces because of his shoulder injury, has cost Sri Lanka dear. The failure of Jayasuriya and to an extent captain Marvan Atapattu has placed an enormous burden on Kumar Sangakkara who seems to have been weighed down by the extra load after starting the series on a positive note. (PTI)Topics mentioned in this article
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