India Takes on Sri Lanka in Do-or-Die Encounter

Harare: After suffering defeats in both the matches against Zimbabwe in the group stage, India's chances of reaching the finals of the tri-nation series are hanging on a loose thread and they would need to win against Sri Lanka today and win with a big margin, if they want to stay in the hunt for a spot in the final.

It would be interesting to see how the young Indian side, without at least 7 senior players, deals with the humiliation of being beaten by Zimbabwe in back-to-back matches -- the first time that Zimbabwe has beaten India in two consecutive matches. Suresh Raina and his team will start the game with their backs to the wall and the prospect of an exit from the tournament looming large on the horizon.

In the current scenario, India, who currently have just four points from one win against Sri Lanka, have to beat the Lankans on Saturday with a bonus point and hope that the outcome of Monday's Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka match also goes their way.

If India can win with a bonus point on Saturday, it will take their tally to nine points, level with Zimbabwe. India would then have to hope that Zimbabwe spring another surprise and upstage the Lankans, who have five points, in the final league encounter.

But all mathematical calculations aside, the first priority for India is to win this game and what would make them feel a little confident ahead of the game is that they had beaten the same team comprehensively when the two teams met a few days ago.

On the flipside, India would remember that even the earlier win had come on the back of some brilliant individual performances by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The duo rescued the Indian innings after a ordinary start and except for the two and Suresh Raina, who has shown flashes of brilliance, the Indian batting has been well below par.

The Zimbabweans, through some disciplined bowling and fantastic fielding, thoroughly exposed India's batting frailties in the last game when they restricted the famed Indian batting line-up to a mere 194-9 and the Lankans, with arguably the best bowling line-up in the tournament, will be looking to exploit the chinks in India's batting armour.

The Indian openers have been a huge letdown and Raina had no hesitation admitting that the failure of Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik has hurt the side badly. It remains to be seen whether India would still go in with the same opening pair or make some changes to the batting order and may be promote Yusuf Pathan, who hasn’t had the best of times batting at number 6 and 7, to the opening slot to try and give him the license to go for the kill.

Rohit Sharma has been the only in-form player in the middle-order hitting back-to-back centuries but it is unfair to expect him to bail out the side every time. A lot would also depend on Kohli and Raina, both of whom have looked good at different stages in the tournament but they will need to come to the party now when the chips are down.

The bigger worry for India is their bowling and fielding. India's bowling has been absolutely toothless and not even a single bowler has made an impact. India came into the tournament with a young, inexperienced bowling attack and going by what has been on display in this tournament, India's bench strength when it comes to bowling is a huge cause for worry.

Umesh Yadav and Ashok Dinda have been inconsistent and though they have picked up a few wickets, their economy rates are nothing to boast about. Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha, on the other hand, have been much more economical but have been unable to pick up wickets. India would be banking on the opening bowling pair once again to get them early breakthroughs and one possible change in the bowling line-up could be the inclusion of Abhimanyu Mithun in place of Umesh Yadav.

The Lankan have played just two matches so far and while they were clinical against Zimbabwe, they just couldn't accelerate at the right time against India. But the team which has a good balance of new and experienced players will be starting off then favourites, especially against a team that is still facing the ignominy of having lost two consecutive matches to the minnows.

India: Suresh Raina (Captain), Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Amit Mishra, Naman Ojha, Pragyan Ojha, Pankaj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan (Captain), Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Silva, Thissira Perera.