***Official*** India in Sri Lanka

[Arjun]

the batting in the death overs would have been a lot better if not for the two SL spinners, who again bowled well. though, more than good bowling, i think it's the shot selection that let the batsmen down. some of the wkts fell in trying to play against the spin so thats something the Indians have to work on

What I noticed was that they were trying to rotate the strike when Mendis and Murali were bowling. There was no urgency to hit the big shots.

not surprising, the waste of space as far as the batting goes was Yuvi. with the likes of Sehwag and Tendulkar slated to come back, he should be worried about his place. He doesn't want to go Afridi way i.e. fire once in a while .... May be playing Pathan in Yuvi's place would have been a better option. let's hope Yuvi delivers with the ball

Yuvraj has issues. First, as expected, Mendis got the better of him, but now, he's a sitting duck even against the much-maligned seamers. More space was wasted with Sharma and Badrinath at six and seven- in a way, they were not needed to do the usual thing, and they could do nothing. In fact, they may miss Irfan a lot here.

the positive is that 258 is on the board, SL is playing to stay in the series so whats needed is a disciplined bowling and fielding effort. a couple of good balls and the pressure would be on SL .... this a nice opportunity for Ind to clinch the series, will they do it in this game?

The Lankans do have some gritty batsmen who play well under pressure, and intelligently too. The Indian fielding is much better than in the Asia Cup, but there are still some areas of weaknesses, such as holding on to catches when the ball is old, soft and battered, as well as hitting the stumps directly. The field placings need to be tight, giving nothing away. And of course, the less we see of Yuvraj, Rohit and Raina, the better- they should concentrate on their batting instead, and wiping out the Lankans in 40 overs should be a priority.

 

[pup11]

Good to see Warnapura open instead Sanga, Sanga should bat at 4 (imo).

 

[Arjun]

One Warnapura flick to on-side going to the boundary was stopped nicely by Badrinath. No runs there. Good stuff.

 

[pup11]

Somebody forgot to tell Warnapura that they are now playing Odi cricket.

 

[pup11]

And.......... Warnapura goes out for a 18 ball duck, well done son, what a way to make your debut.

 

[ret]

Jayasuriya and Sangakara in .... the crucial phase of the 2nd half of the game begins

 

[ret]

Munaf strikes again

 

[ret]

nice shot by jayasuriya for a 6 .... clearly its Jayasuriya vs India atm

 

[pup11]

Its been a good comeback by Munaf, hasn't it?
Btw Sanga' horror run continues, really bad to see a classy player like him struggle.

 

[Sanz]

Sanath 48/45, Rest of team - 8/51

 

[pup11]

Harbhajan's 10 overs would decide the game imo, there was some purchase for Mendia and Murali during the last 10 overs of the Indian innings, so if Harbhajan can bowl well India would have a better chance of winning, but if he is not upto the mark then India could really have some problems.

 

[pup11]

50 for Jaya, 38 and still going strong, boy.. what a player!

 

[viktor]

I think its the fifth bowler that's going to hurt us, especially as Kumar is also being targetted. Allows them to play out the likes of Zaheer and Munaf.

 

[Sanz]

Sanath 60/50 - Wow. He is keeping SL in hunt on his own.

 

[ret]

Sanath 60/50 - Wow. He is keeping SL in hunt on his own.

everyone can see that

 

[Sanz]

Finally, Jinxed him. Well Played.

 

[ret]

Finally, Jinxed him. Well Played.

so can you make Bhajji take a 5-er

 

[Sanz]

Can I jump the Gun and predict a series Victory for Dhoni and his boys.

Also Cheers to Kohli and Selectors for picking him, the amount of Flak that boy and the selectors got for picking him over Badri was kind of undeserving. Afterall he outperformed Badri by quite a fair margin.

 

[ret]

Can I jump the Gun and predict a series Victory for Dhoni and his boys.

you will do well first by improving your standard of posting

 

[Prince EWS]

you will do well first by improving your standard of posting

That's really not needed, ret. There was nothing in the post that you quoted that deserved that kind of reaction and if you want to carry on old grudges throughout several topics then do it off the forum, please.