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Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from S.Africa/Kenya

JOHANNESBURG, Sunday - Sri Lanka is likely to make one change to their side for their World Cup Super Sixes match against India at the Wanderers here tomorrow, but it will not be from the batting department.

The change that Sri Lanka are making is to the bowling department when all eyes are focussed on the batting.

Fast bowler Prabath Nissanka is likely to replace Pulasthi Gunaratne, but any further changes are unlikely as Sri Lanka is keen to go into this important contest against India at full strength.

Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya although still experiencing some pain on his chipped left thumb is playing so is the out-of-form Mahela Jayawardene. The only question mark is over Hashan Tillakaratne's fitness. He is nursing a hamstring injury, but is also expected to play. The batsman at least was confident that he can play.

If Jayasuriya pulls out of this game it will provide a tremendous psychological boost to the Indians who dread his batting. It is against the Indians that he has hit Sri Lanka's highest Test score of 340 and highest One-day International score of 189. They know all about him and what he is capable of doing on his day.

Jayasuriya's presence alone will be a big morale booster for the Sri Lankans who need to win this game to ensure there are no late hiccups in qualifying for a place in the semi-finals. But there is a big risk factor involved if he aggravates the injury because it might keep him out of the match against Zimbabwe at East London on March 15 which Sri Lanka must win to qualify for the semi-finals, if they fail to beat India.

"There is a little pain in my thumb but I am definitely playing," said Jayasuriya after practice today although he put the percentages down to 75. The Sri Lankan captain had balls thrown to him at the nets and avoided risking his injured hand against the bowlers. He said the swelling in his forearm had subsided considerably but although there was some pain, he said he can manage. Jayasuriya said his only worry was his thumb. It might sometimes prevent him from bowling.

"We intend batting Mahela low down in the order. He is batting so well in the nets, it is a matter of time before he gets a big score. Considering the importance attached to this game we don't want to take a chance with someone else because the reserves hardly had any match practice," said Jayasuriya.

Jayawardene said that he was very disappointed that he is not getting runs in the middle when he was batting so well at the nets. He said that Aravinda de Silva also had a look at his batting today and saw nothing wrong. What Jayawardene is lacking is in confidence and the team management believes he can only get it back in the middle.

Jayasuriya said the loss to Australia has not in any way dented his side's confidence.

"We lost to Kenya and came back and played well. So did India after losing badly to Australia. When you play a lot of one-day games one has to win and lose," said Jayasuriya.

"Any game against India is important. They are playing well at the moment. We'll have to keep it as tight as possible," he said.

Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore said the Indian team had some incredible match winners in their side, but he knew of their strengths and weaknesses having played against them a few times.

"The main thing that I want to see is for everyone in the team to lift up a gear or two for the encounter. India are also on top of their game at the moment," said Whatmore.

The match brings to head a clash between the tournament's leading batsman against the tournament's leading pace bowler when Sachin Tendulkar takes on Chaminda Vaas. Tendulkar leads the World Cup 2003 batting with 470 runs and Vaas is the leading bowler with 16 wickets. The Sri Lankan pace bowler has been unable to add to his tally in the last two games going for a total of 92 runs off 15 overs against South Africa and Australia.

Tendulkar and Vaas are also in the running for the Man of the Tournament award. Tendulkar holds a two-point lead over Vaas. The Indian batting maestro is the only player in the tournament to have picked up three Man of the Match awards in the Pool stage. Tendulkar has picked up three Man of the Match awards, while Vaas has been Man of the Match twice.

Indian captain Sourvav Ganguly said that tomorrow's match was important for both sides to proceed to the semi-finals.

"This is an important phase of the tournament and all of us need to contribute. We are in a position that after this game, we could be in the semi-finals. It's not going to be a particularly individual or one or two guys contributing, it's got to be team work. I am very happy at the way we all are hitting the ball. We are playing as well as we did in the NatWest trophy in England," said Ganguly. India won that final against England chasing over 300 for victory.

"We want to finish second or third and more importantly, we want to keep on winning. Winning is a good habit and we won our last five games. We want to keep it going," he said.

Ganguly said that India had played Sri Lanka a lot and they knew their strengths and weaknesses. "We will bowl accordingly," he said.

"Jayasuriya is a key player for them with the bat and with the ball it will be an advantage for us if he doesn't play. Even with Sanath in the side we've won against them. Obviously he is one of their key players. Aravinda, Atapattu are all good players, Mahela is not in the best of touch, but he is a quality player. They've got Sangakkara, Arnold, Tillakaratne and they are decent batting side. The focus will not only be on Sanath but on the whole side," said Ganguly.

The Indian captain said that Chaminda Vaas was a very under rated bowler. "He has served Sri Lanka cricket a long time and we have a lot of respect for him as a bowler," he said.

The chances of this match being dragged onto a second day seems likely with heavy rain and thunder being experienced in the past two days.

The teams: SRI LANKA (from): Sanath Jayasuriya (c), Marvan Atapattu, Hashan Tillakaratne, Aravinda de Silva, Russell Arnold, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Prabath Nissanka, Jehan Mubarak, Pulasthi Gunaratne.

INDIA (from): Sourav Ganguly (c), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Kaif, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, Anil Kumble.

UMPIRES: David Shepherd (England) and Simon Taufel (Australia), 
TV umpire: Darryl Harper (Australia), 
Match Referee: Clive Lloyd (West Indies). 

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