Compaq Cup IND VS SRI

Ground reality and Pitch:

The R Premadasa stadium, formerly known as the Khettarama stadium, has always been known to favour the batsmen. However, the last two games here saw two low scoring encounters. The pitch has played on the slower side, making it difficult for the batsmen to play their strokes freely. More application is required from the batsmen if they are to endure the slow conditions.

Temperature:

Min-26 C Max-30 C | Conditions: Partly Cloudy

Team Updates:

India: The Men in Blue started the season on a good note, prevailing over the Kiwis in a low-scoring encounter, and thereby knocking them out of the tri-series. While the bowlers did a good job restricting New Zealand to 155, the Indian batsman struggled initially, giving the Kiwis an opportunity to make a game out of it. Eventually, a rescue effort from Dhoni and Raina helped India to win. The batsmen have to put in a better effort against the Lankan attack if they are to pursue their quest to get to the top of the ODI charts. Sri Lanka: Like the Indians, the team from the Island nation owe it to the bowlers, who made life difficult for the Kiwis and helped Sri Lanka to victory. Their batting has been a sort of weakness for the Lankan team in the recent past, though it hasn't reached alarming levels yet. The top order has not been up to the mark, leading to many one-man shows. The Lankans would hope to get a close look at pros and cons of the Indian team in a dress rehearsal to the finals on Monday.

Contests to watch:

Yuvraj vs Mendis: While one is a dashing left-handed batsman capable of continuously putting six deliveries out of the park, the other is a mystery tweaker who can trigger a major batting collapse. An interesting contest is at hand for cricketing fans around the world when these two face-off at the Premadasa.Dilshan vs Nehra: They are both team-mates in the IPL for the Delhi Daredevils, and Dilshan and Nehra have seen each other from close quarters and know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Nehra's away going deliveries versus the Dilscoop should be a treat for the eyes.

Numbers Game:

0.71: India's win-loss ratio in ODI's against Sri Lanka at the Premadasa stadium.

2: The number of centuries scored by Sachin Tendulkar at the Premadasa.

Sound Bytes:

Ranking and rating take care of themselves. We are just concentrating on the part which is under our control and that is playing and performing on the field and adapting to the situation: MS Dhoni, speaking about India's quest to the top spot in the ODI rankings. We have to get our batting unit to fire consistently. It hasn't been working for us and I think our bowlers, by their splendid performances, have bailed us out quite a few times: Sangakkara, talking about Sri Lanka's failure in the batting department.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara(w/c), Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara, Lasith Malinga, Thilina Kandamby, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Dammika Prasad, Upul Tharanga

India: Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Abhishek Nayar, Virat Kohli