INDIA VERSUS SRILANKA 2 ODI NEWS

1)India hold the edge on run-friendly pitch


Virender Sehwag prepares his bat for another onslaught, Nagpur, December 17, 2009
Virender Sehwag works on his bat ahead of the second ODI in Nagpur © Associated Press

Big Picture

The bowlers will head into Nagpur with the Rajkot run fest on their minds, but they won't get much relief from another hard track at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium. India have the momentum and victory in Nagpur will give them a formidable 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Making it worse for Sri Lanka is the fact that they are down two bowlers. Muttiah Muralitharan and Dilhara Fernando have been ruled out for the series, meaning the visitors have two fresh faces, both potential debutants, which will not help a side aiming to level the series. It will take a huge effort for them to turn the tide their way on this surface.

The most alarming feature of the limited-overs leg of this tour has been the fielding of both sides; on what is believed to be another belter of a track, bowling straight and full and, most importantly, taking every chance will be paramount. The fast bowlers on either side were carted around for the first half of both innings in Rajkot, and the epidemic of spilling catches continued from the Tests and Twenty20s. Three catches and one half chance to Zaheer Khan went down, taking India's drop tally from three limited-overs games this past week to an even dozen.

For one side aiming to tighten their grasp on the series, and the other attempting to clutch a piece of it, wrapping their fingers around the key moments will be decisive.

Form guide
(last five completed matches, most recent first)

India - WLLLW
Sri Lanka - LLLWL

Watch out for...

Mahela Jayawardene: Sri Lanka's former captain has experienced an unusual run of form in 2009 where he either gets a start and can't convert or falls early. In 23 innings this year, he has a century and three half-centuries; his next-highest score is 33 and three times he's been dismissed without scoring. The law of averages says it's about time for a century, but it will be against a side off which he has only one hundred in 55 innings. To do so, Jayawardene will need to get over his struggles against India's spinners, who have now dismissed him five times - six if you count the run out in Rajkot during a Ravindra Jadeja over - from his seven ODI innings against them in 2009.

Gautam Gambhir: He's been India's most consistent Test batsman this year but his figures aren't so hot in ODIs. His only century came against Sri Lanka in the first week of February and since then Gambhir has managed four half-centuries. For a determined player, who has made a superb effort to convert fifties into centuries in Tests, changing a habit that hampered him for some time, doing the same in ODIs must be a goal. Given the nature of the Nagpur track - India eased past 350 runs when they played Australia here in October - it is tough to visualise one of the top three not getting a big score. Gambhir has been able to bat at the top in only ten of 20 innings in 2009; if he gets the chance to bat at No. 3 tomorrow, count on a significant innings.

The batting Powerplay: This five-over block turned out to be a bit of a worry for both sides. In Rajkot, India seemed on course for 450 before they lost Sehwag, MS Dhoni and Gambhir while scoring just 33 runs during their batting Powerplay, taken after 34 overs. Sri Lanka opted for theirs at 291 for 1 after 35 overs and scored 21 runs off the first over, but managed 32 for 3 from the next four. And that was where the match turned.

Team news

Yuvraj Singh is almost ruled out - he has the flu, in addition to his finger injury and missed practice on Thursday - but Sehwag has been cleared to play after picking up a knee injury in Nagpur. The batting will remain the same as the first ODI, though Sudeep Tyagi may just fancy a debut ahead of Praveen Kumar.

India: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Virat Kohli, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Praveen Kumar/Sudeep Tyagi, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Apart from the injuries to Murali and Fernando, Sri Lanka also had to sweat on Lasith Malinga's fitness. He missed the first match and the management will be hopeful of his return to replace Fernando. If not, it could mean a debut for rookie fast bowler Suranga Lakmal, who teamed up with the squad today, or a spinner coming in. If it is the latter, Ajantha Mendis remains the safe bet but one of Muthumudalige Pushpakumara or Suraj Randiv could debut.

Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Sanath Jayasuriya, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Thilina Kandamby, 8 Angelo Mathews, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Chanaka Welegedara/Ajantha Mendis/ Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, 11 Lasith Malinga/Suranga Lakmal.

Pitch and conditions

This will be only the second one-day international played at this venue - the first was a run fest. India racked up 354 against Australia and then won by 99 runs. The pitch is expected to be conducive for run-making, as it was during the Twenty20 when Sri Lanka made 216 in 20 overs. Scattered showers are forecast by the weather bureau, with temperatures of 27C predicted.

Stats and trivia

* Virender Sehwag, during the course of his 102-ball 146, was most severe on Angelo Mathews, plundering 27 runs off 10 balls.

* Harbhajan Singh was India's best bowler in the face of an onslaught from Sri Lanka's top order. It showed in his figures against centurion Tillakaratne Dilshan: in 26 balls bowled to Dilshan, the batsman only managed 17 runs.

Quotes

"I expect scores of over 300 for sure. But the fast bowlers will definitely get some help early on with the new ball, and fielding first may not be a bad option."
Chief curator Praveen Hingnekar promises there won't be a repeat of Rajkot.

2)Dhoni worried by inept fielding

Dhoni defends flat trACKS

* After a glut of runs in the Tests and Twenty20s against Sri Lanka, the first one-dayer in Rajkot also turned out be a bowler's nightmare raising questions over the quality of pitches in India, but MS Dhoni defended the curators.
* "Wickets are not easy to prepare. You try to get a good wicket and it turns out to be a flat one," he said. "The Kanpur Test the wicket was flat but still the game ended one and a half days' before schedule. In the last four games the wickets have been consistent and batter-friendly. It's easy to criticise preparation of wickets."

The Indian batting machine is in prime form, but the shoddy fielding has captain MS Dhoni worried. Three chances were grassed by India during Sri Lanka's spirited pursuit of 415 in the first ODI in Rajkot. That added to some appalling fielding in the two Twenty20s took the dropped catches' tally to 12, over 90 overs of limited-overs cricket in one week. And then there were the missed run-outs.

"We were fielding well in patches and not dropping catches at the international level," Dhoni said in Nagpur ahead of Friday's second ODI. "You may drop the odd difficult catch but straightforward chances need to be taken. In the last three-four games we have dropped a lot of regulation catches. Of course it bothers me.

"At the same time it will be solved at some point because of the effort that we are putting in. We are hoping we don't drop catches in this game."

India did hold their nerve in the field towards the end of the Rajkot game, when Sri Lanka needed only 15 runs in the final two overs. Two run-outs in the penultimate over and a Sachin Tendulkar catch off the third-last delivery helped India edge home by three runs.

The bowling from Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra at the death, another facet where India haven't excelled, came in for praise from Dhoni. "It was one of the best in the past year. I have always said we had not been very consistent with the death bowling," he said. "In the last game, in the last five overs we gave away only 27 runs. It was a very good effort.

"Ashish bowled five overs in a row. There was a bit of reverse-swing going, which actually helped us a bit."

Dhoni said that on superb batting tracks like in Rajkot, the key is to stop singles. "Normally you don't get wickets like that. It was not a big ground with the straight boundary not more than 60-65 yards. Since the wicket was so nice, it was easy for the batsmen to clear the field. It's important not to give easy singles."

Looking ahead to the second one-dayer in Nagpur, Dhoni said he expected another run-fest. India racked up 354 when they played Australia in an ODI last month, and 401 runs were scored in the Twenty20 against Sri Lanka last week. "In the last T20 game here there was good bounce. The wicket for the match looks like good and flat. I had a conversation with the curator."

3)Dead tracks prompt Jayawardene to bat for bowlers



After more than 800 runs were plundered in the first ODI in Rajkot, Mahela Jayawardene has called for lifting restrictions on bowlers, including relaxing the one-bouncer-an-over rule and leniency in the definition of a wide in ODIs.

"I have always been critical of the fact that bowlers now have to bowl in the 'strike zone' basically," Jayawardene said ahead of the second one-dayer in Nagpur. "You can't bowl down the leg side. Anything outside the off stump is a wide.

"With the Power Plays and all the restrictions it's important we give bowlers leverage as well. Another option would be to give them another bouncer. Give them two bouncers an over. Restrictions are probably easing up and have given them a bit more in third Power Play. But we need to balance it out a bit more."

It has been a batsman-dominated tour so far, with big runs scored in the Tests and Twenty20s. In the first ODI on Tuesday, Sri Lanka fell three short of overhauling India's 414, which would have made it the second-highest successful chase ever.

Jayawardene expected plenty of runs in Nagpur as well but said the bigger size of the ground should make the totals lower than in the first ODI. "It was a really good wicket at Rajkot. It was a fast outfield and smaller ground. History shows it's a high scoring ground," he said. "Here it's a bigger ground but a really good wicket as well. We need to adjust to that and to the different combinations. It's a fresh start."

India's batting unit is working well and the loss of three first-choice bowlers - Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Thushara and Dilhara Fernando - to injury adds to Sri Lanka's worries. Jayawardene, though, was confident the replacement bowlers would step up. "I don't see a problem. Obviously injuries in the past have taken good players away from us but we have not stopped playing or winning. It's a good opportunity for another guy to show what he's capable of."