- Joined
- Oct 3, 2003
- Posts
- 17,286
- Likes
- 514
- Location
- Adelaide
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
- Other Teams
- Centrals
Thread starter
#1
WACA Ground, Perth
12:20pm Wednesday February 8
10 months ago these two teams met in the World Cup Final, since then neither side has had a great time. Since then they've won 5 out of 26 tests between them, and Sri Lanka have played 4 5-game ODI series and lost the lot. While the score says 3-2 for three of them, there's 4 dead rubbers in that, meaning they're 3-12 in live games. India have done ok at 12-7, but they'd only played the hopeless Windies and the not much better England until getting flogged by the Aussies on Sunday.
For India, Sehwag will return for Gambhir who gets the game off as they rotate their openers, although his form isn't great in this format either. Kohli and Sharma should be safe, Raina's bowling probably keeps him in but if they want to strengthen the batting Tiwary did make a ton in the last game against the Windies. In the bowling department it's Perth so more likely to be four quicks than going with two again. Irfan Pathan is the all rounder to replace one of the Ravis - $2 million man was useless on Sunday but has generally been the more useful spinner in this format. Rahul Sharma should go out for Yadav who took 5 in the Test here, while Zaheer might get a chance over the disappointing Praveen Kumar.
Sri Lanka have another new coach, another new captain, another new selection panel, and another new president, but there aren't too many player names that people won't recognise from previous tours. They still rely on Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Malinga, unless Dilshan has one of his days where he gets going. Only 7 batsmen to pick from, with Thirimanne or Mathews to miss out. Herath and Senanayake have been rubbish in limited opportunities since Murali's exit so they'll be happy to start with a couple of games in Perth where they will get away with one plus Dilshan. Not that their quicks are much better - their other experienced bowler Kulasekara is averaging over 100 since the World Cup, Welegedera and Maharoof haven't played one day cricket in 18 months, and Dhammika Prasad has never been able to take his chances in the national side. Perera's a no brainer to join Malinga, Herath the spinner, Welegedera perhaps the best suited to the WACA and they probably stick with the experienced Kulasekara, although Maharoof might be considered to both strengthen the lower order and keep it tight through the middle overs.
India XVII:
Virender Sehwag
Sachin Tendulkar
Gautam Gambhir
Virat Kohli
Manoj Tiwary
Rohit Sharma
Suresh Raina
*+MS Dhoni
Parthiv Patel
Ravi Jadeja
Ravi Ashwin
Irfan Pathan
Praveen Kumar
Zaheer Khan
Rahul Sharma
Vinay Kumar
Umesh Yadav
In:
Zaheer
Patel
Pathan
Sehwag
Tiwary
Yadav
Sri Lanka XV:
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Mahela Jayawardene
Upul Tharanga
Kumar Sangakkara
Dinesh Chandimal
Lahiru Thirimanne
Angelo Mathews
Farveez Maharoof
Thisara Perera
Nuwan Kulasekara
Lasith Malinga
Rangana Herath
Dhammika Prasad
Sachithra Senanayake
Chanaka Welegedera
In:
Jayawardene
Maharoof
Prasad
Welegedera
Umpires:
Nigel Llong (England)
Paul Reiffel (Victoria)
Bruce Oxenford (3rd, Queensland)
Weather:
Windy, 36 degrees
Session Times
First innings: 12:20-3:50pm
Second innings: 4:35-8:05pm
Coverage:
Cricinfo's scorecard
Cricket Australia's scorecard
Tickets:
Adults - from $25
Concession - from $20
Children - from $10
Family - from $60
