Sunday's match between Sri Lanka and India will be looked upon later in this Asia Cup as the turning point for either team. Both teams are struggling somewhat in the form department and have not played a lot of One-Day International cricket. So, whoever wins this match is likely to go on to play in the final.
Good teams, when out of form, keep winning because they know how to win. Great teams know how to scrap, punch, fight and pinch their way to winning. They throw out their egos and forget what they look like and just get the job done. We will find out in this match who has the most pride in their game on a pitch that will not provide pretty cricket.
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Let us have a look at the SWAT [strengths, weaknesses and tactics] analysis for both teams.
INDIA
Last 10 games: 6-4 win/loss
Versus Sri Lanka in last 10 games: 4-4-2 win/loss/no result
STRENGTHS: Rahul Dravid played a beautiful knock against a worthy opponent in the UAE. He is really a class player and such a great thinker of the game and is backed up by flawless technique.
Irfan Pathan has come a long way for a boy who just 18 months ago was playing under 19 cricket. Pathan is now a senior player in this team. He shows no nerves when he opens the bowling. He knows how to get batsmen out and is simply getting better with every opportunity.
Mohammed Kaif also closed the match well for India. He too has a couple of shots that can ruin opposition bowlers and is fantastic between the wickets.
What can I say about Anil Kumble? He deservedly became the highest wicket-taker for India in ODIs and I have always had the feeling that he would have made a great captain of India. Sadly, we will never know because time has passed him by.
WEAKNESSES: The form of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly is still worrying for all concerned. Both looked very rusty; both showed poor footwork combined with some shoddy running between the wickets. I know they are class batsmen, but I feel they need some long net practice to get them closer to what we expect from these two world-class batsmen.
If India do not improve on their running between the wickets then they WILL NOT WIN ANOTHER WORLD CUP! The top four batsmen are such lazy runners and never put the opposition under attack. There was never a better example of this than when India played the UAE on Friday. They simply have to get off their bums and back up at the bowler's end and run the first run HARD! Is that too hard boys?
TACTICS: India must contain Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu and Muralitharan if they want to win this match. If Jayasuriya and Atapattu make more than 40 runs, then Sri Lanka win more than 75 per cent of their games. If Murali gets two or more wickets in a match, Sri Lanka win 73 per cent of the time. Trust me, Sri Lanka are a very tough opponent when playing at home.
SRI LANKA
Last 10 ODIs played: 7-3 win/loss
STRENGTHS: There seems to be a new confidence with this team with some heartening performances during their tour of Australia. Their great bowler Murali is back and it is great to see he has got over his recent 'personal problems' that caused him to not tour Australia. Kumar Sangakkara is playing very well at the moment, with the impressive average of 64 over his last 10 matches.
If Sri Lanka needed some motivation, then they should not forget the fabulous performance they put in against Australia when they played in Dambulla some three months back. Chaminda Vaas was simply brilliant in the final over to prove to everyone that this team has the spine to play well when it counts.
WEAKNESSES: The travel this team has done over the last four days will certainly be a factor in how they play. The long plane trip from Australia and the five-hour bus trip from Colombo have not helped the cause. Add to that the mixture of back-to-back ODIs and that is a dangerous recipe for failure.
The form of Jayasuriya and Atapattu is a little worrying. They are averaging 21 and 23, respectively, over the last 10 games.
TACTICS: Sri Lanka must keep Tendulkar and Ganguly quiet. Clearly both are struggling against the swinging ball. When batting, the major problem on this ground is that the new ball can do some damage. So I think the job of the openers should be to get the polish off the new ball and make a score of around 225, which I think will be hard to beat.
I feel that India will win this match, but because of the pitch and the large ground, it will simply be a big, scrappy dogfight. It won't be pretty cricket, folks. Just some hard and tough cricket where old dogs like myself will simply lap it all up!
