India tour of Sri Lanka 2012 - ODI Series Preview

India is all set to tour its neighboring island nation for a 5 match ODI series and a T20I starting from the 21st of July. Despite being the finalists of last world cup, both these teams failed to reach the finals of recently concluded edition of Asia cup.

Since the World Cup, Sri Lanka’s main problem is that they are lacking a good captain. Although the was on Mathews after Sangakarra’s abdication, he was sidelined highlighting the point that he is too young for a such a big role. Dilshan’s leadership wasn’t note worthy. He failed to win any of the series he captained. Jayawardene, who stepped down as Sri Lanka’s captain in 2008, resumed captaincy after Dilshan. India beat Sri Lanka 4-1 in that tour. Jayawardene will hope to change things this time around. Sri Lanka is entering into the series with 1-0 test series victory and 3-1 ODI series victory against Pakistan at home.

Currently, India are in the training camp at Chennai. They will leave Chennai in a day or two. They failed to qualify for the finals in both Asia Cup and CommonWealth Bank Tri-series. As Sachin opted himself out of the selection, India will open with the Delhi duo of Sehwag and Gambhir. Gambhir has been in great touch lately. His purple patch in the recently concluded edition of IPL won KKR the championship. The opening slot created a cold war between Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhoni. Dhoni employed a round-robin method in the CB series which was severely criticized by many. However, he said that Sehwag, Gambhir and Sachin are slow in field and any youngster in their place would save atleast 20 runs for the team. Gambhir hit back at Dhoni by saying that Dhoni was taking the match to the very last over despite having the ability to finish the match much earlier. Conversations were hit back and forth amidst them. Now, they would like to seize the maximum from this tour to prove the world they are not crowned as Champions with no reason.

Players like Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwari toured West Indies for unofficial test series and ODI series. They were amidst the runs during the tour. It would have given them immense confidence to continue their purple patch against Sri Lanka too. One of the huge drawback for India in ODIs side since World cup is the genuine all rounder. Since Yuvraj was diagnosed with malignant cancer, neither Jadeja or Pathan brothers could fill in his shoes. Irfan has been selected as an allrounder. Initially, he wasn’t a part of the 16 but was called as replacement for Vinay Kumar. Irfan would like to utilize the opportunity well as this may be a key for his T20 world cup entry. Praveen Kumar, who is one of top limited over bowlers for India in recent days, has been surprisingly dropped.

India aren’t looking good at Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka edge India in their own backyard by 26:19 victories. However, under Dhoni’s captaincy, India are ahead with a 10-7 win record in Sri Lanka.

Zaheer Khan(62), who is currently the leading wicket taker for India in the India – Sri Lanka bilateral series, will look forward to surpass Muralidaran(74) as the leading wicket taker.

Squads:

India:MS Dhoni (c & wk), Virat Kohli (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, R Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Rahul Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane

Sri Lanka:Mahela Jayawardene (c), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedera, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeevan Mendis, Isuru Udana

Players to watch out for:

India:

Rohit Sharma – He had a wonderful West Indies tour. He was amidst runs in all forms and also chipped in with some wickets too. His athleticism on the field will always be the difference for India between a victory and defeat. He is the player to watch out for India in this series.

Sri Lanka:

Kumar Sangakarra: He had a dominating home test series against Pakistan. He missed out double centuries in two innings in the series. He was dismissed on 192 once and was stranded on 199* in the other. He will be the key factor for Sri Lanka in this tour.