***Official*** Sri Lanka in India

[Jono]

Whilst Murali isn't playing, India don't want to be chasing close to 300 again, especiall with Dravid out of the team.

Come on fellas early wicket.

 

[Pratters]

1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 S Sreesanth, 11 Rudra Pratap Singh. Supersub: Suresh Raina.

Its interesting India went in with 5 bowlers and the super sub in Raina. This way if they batted first Raina could come in if necessary.

As they are bowling, its best suited for India.

Playing 4 specialist bowlers could have been disastrous for India as the bowling looks weak.

 

[Pratters]

Sreesanth has been better now in the sense he is not straying.

Its a small ground and the pitch has nothing in it. Very little margin for error.

And now Sreesanth gets one!

 

[Pratters]

And two successive boudaries with Sreesanth straying on the leg side when the field is set to bowl on the off side.

Over the wicket he has bowled the next few deliveries on the spot.

A bowler with promise but needs the honing.

 

[Pratters]

RP Singh gets Tharanga now. And agained stuff puffed out of the pitch like it did when Jayasuriya was out causing a bit of uneven bounce.

On a ground where high scores are the norm, Lanka is struggling here.

 

[Sanz]

Can anyone, who is watching the game, describe RP Singh's bowling please ? Thanks..

 

[Pratters]

Very good stumping by Dhoni off Karthik's first ball. Jayawardene gone.

 

[Pratters]

Can anyone, who is watching the game, describe RP Singh's bowling please ? Thanks..

R.P.Singh has been very accurate with his bowling. Good performance by him so far.

 

[Pratters]

Sivaramakrishnan -"The slower you ball, the more purchase you get."

Tell us some thing new like some perspectives on the match?

 

[Anil]

sl 132 for 7, so far so good, don't let it slip away now....

 

[Anil]

dilshan gone...concentrate india concentrate....

 

[Jono]

Maharoof gone. 9 down now.

 

[Sanz]

Did anyone notice the 'EXTRAS' given by indian bowlers/fielders ? 2 wides and 1 Noball a total of 3 extras. I wonder if this is a record for lowest extras in an ODI.

 

[Jono]

Terrific bowling effort considering the pitch was flat and favoured batting. India should chase this down considering Murali pulled a hammy and isnt playing.

Looking for Sehwag to score runs, Yuvraj too only because he's in my fantasy cricket team (Yeah I know, stupid).

 

[adharcric]

Did anyone notice the 'EXTRAS' given by indian bowlers/fielders ? 1 wide and 1 Noball a total of 2 extras. I wonder if this is a record for lowest extras in an ODI.

Perhaps it is. Pretty damn impressive for Indian bowlers especially. Kartik didnt do his usualy rubbish leg-side deliveries this time, and the seamers werent too wayward.

 

[Sanz]

SRT is going to score big today.

 

[honestbharani]

Can anyone, who is watching the game, describe RP Singh's bowling please ? Thanks..

He seems to bowl a decent line and length, but didn't really get too much swing or seam. The one good aspect about his bowling is that he seems to have "something in the tank", so to speak. He is bowling around the 130s but then all of a sudden, can bowl an effort ball with no real change in action and crank it up to the late 130s or even early 140s... And he has an okay slower ball. Some potential there, but needs to keep working hard and add some other dimensions to his bowling. BTW, young Piyush Chawla is with the squad, not exactly sure who he has replaced... But good idea by the selectors to let the youngster get a feel of things at the international level, as, by all accounts, he seems to be someone certain to get into the side in a year or two.

 

[Jono]

Sehwag not opening, Gambhir is with Sachin.

Great move.

 

[Sanz]

Wise Move by the captain..Giving Gambhir a chance to open. It shows his confidence that he is not threatened by Gambhir's knock and willing to give him another go @ opener's slot. Really admirable decision that is from Sehwag.

 

[Pratters]

Sehwag not opening, Gambhir is with Sachin.

Great move.

Yeah agreed. I had made a team some time back which I would like in the long term just a few weeks back.

I had Ganguly and Tendulkar opening and Sehwag at nu. 3

Ganguly - if he can replicate his best patch - would be a great pair at the top with Tendulkar. Also Gambhir should be given a fair run so that we know how he would fair as an opener. So it is a good move from this perspective as well.

And Sehwag at no. 3 gives us the option of seeing how he fares at this position as well. It also serves as a psychological dampene for the opposition. Even after taking a wicket you have a hard hitter waiting. And I dont think it would effect the way Sehwag plays whether he plays at opening slot or 3. Certainly it doesnt change when he plays tests.