Asia Cup Final - India vs Sri Lanka, Match Preview
July 6th, 2008Asia Cup 2008 Final
Sunday, 6th June 2008
India v Sri Lanka
Jayasuriya and Sehwag in form and on song, Ishant’s sheering pace and Murali’s bamboozling turners. What more a treat a cricket fan can ask for?
People are looking for an exciting end to a not so exciting cricket tournament. Sri Lanka seem to have played a master stroke resting Ajantha Mendis in the Super Four match against India. They will be hoping that he is able to dodge the Indians. But if Ajantha Mendis can bowl six different balls in an over, Virender Sehwag has more than six different shots for each ball.
The Karachi pitch wouldn’t offer much to the pacers and the onus to tilt the balance in the favor of their team will be on the batsmen. Teams would like to go with experience for this crucial match. Sri Lanka would look to play Kulasekara and Fernando along with Murali, Mendis and Vaas. Only other option they may look at is Thushara in place of Fernando or Kulasekara. India would probably opt for the younger among the Pathan brothers, Irfan. They would look to go with six batsmen, then Pathan and then the four bowlers. They are likely to keep out Chawla and play Ojha who has shown better control on line and length.
Battles to look out for
Virender Sehwag v Chaminda Vaas
Gautam Gambhir v Ajantha Mendis
Sanath Jayasuriya v Ishant Sharma
Kumar Sangakkara v Praveen Kumar
|
Player |
All ODIs |
Against this team |
In this Asia Cup |
|
|
Virender Sehwag |
Runs-5750, Av-32.30,100s-9 |
Runs-850, Av-30.35, 100s-0 |
Runs-288, Av-72, 100s-1 |
|
|
Gautam Gambhir |
Runs-1945, Av-39.69, 100s-5 |
Runs-414, Av-82.80, 100s-2 |
Runs-253, Av-50.60, 100s-0 |
|
|
Sanath Jayasuriya |
Runs-12563, Av-32.63, 100s-26 |
Runs-2304, Av-36, 100s-5 |
Runs-253, Av-63.25, 100s-1 |
|
|
Kumar Sangakkara |
Runs-6736, Av-36.60, 100s-10 |
Runs-1019, Av-36.39, 100s-0 |
Runs-341, Av-68.20, 100s-3 |
|
|
Chaminda Vaas |
Wkts-396, Av-27.40, Eco-4.18 |
Wkts-66, Av-31.07, Eco-4.68 |
Wkts-3, Av-27, Eco-3.85 |
|
|
Ajantha Mendis |
Wkts-14, Av-13.71, Eco-4.00 |
- |
Wkts-11, Av-12, Eco-3.88 |
|
|
Ishant Sharma |
Wkts-19, Av-33.84, Eco-5.13 |
Wkts-7, Av-23.71, Eco-4.88 |
Wkts-3, Av-78.33, Eco-5.87 |
|
|
Praveen Kumar |
Wkts-16, Av-32.56, Eco-4.80 |
Wkts-5, Av-23.30, Eco-4.46 |
Wkts-1, Av-174, Eco-5.89 |
Probable starters:
India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh (VC), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C) (WK), Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma
Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (WK), Mahela Jayawardene (C), Tillakratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Muttiah Muralidharan, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekara.
Verdict: Looks like an intriguing battle on the cards. Its high time some of the players stood up and India might just pull this one off.
What do you say?
Dr. Mohit Goyal © IPL Cricket Forum
http://goyalmohit.blogspot.com
Posted in Cricket News |