John Wright's Thoughts On India vs Sri Lanka

After today's facile win for India over Bermuda, John Wright speaks about India's upcoming must-win match against Sri Lanka - a match he calls the "match of the tournament." Australia and South Africa may have some thoughts on that, but let's excuse John for his hyperbole - after all, his soft corner for India is evident from his closing statement hoping for an Indian win!

He makes a few pertinent points though; he says that India's strength is its batting while Sri Lankan bowling is the more balanced of the two. He points to Sri Lanka's middle order of Dilshan, Silva and Arnold being no match for India. My personal thoughts mirror John's - our bowling hasn't looked upto scratch in the last two games. In 2003, our trio of fast bowlers Srinath, Nehra and Zaheer were destroying opposition line-ups (except Australia's). However, this time around except for Munaf, we haven't looked like running through a batting line-up. Even in today's match against Bermuda, we had to rely on Sehwag and Sachin to get through a few overs and pick up a wicket, when 40 overs between the main bowlers should have been enough. This means that the top and middle order will have to fire similarly to what it did today.

John spoke about India having the edge on Sri Lanka in neutral venues. Stats back up this statement - in 23 neutral venue matches between the two countries, India has won 15, Sri Lanka 7 with one No Result. Furthermore, of those 7 losses, 6 have occurred in Sharjah and UAE where the pitches are quite similar to Sri Lanka's sluggish turners. On a pitch with some bounce and/or movement, India have comfortably beaten Sri Lanka; witness the last time India and Sri Lanka met in a World Cup. However, this time Sri Lanka have the slinger, Lasith Malinga at their disposal. He hasn't caused us too many problems so far, having picked up just 4 wickets from 5 matches against us. He does have pace though and if he gets his radar right, he could cause our batsmen a few problems.

All in all, a cracking encounter on the cards! I, of course, am hoping for a big Indian win although I do think that this one is going to be too close for our comfort.