Will Lankans tame T20 World champs

Chris Dhambarage

A new look Sri Lankan outfit under a new captain will take on India in a historic Twenty20 International cricket match under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today commencing at 7. 00 p.m.

This game has a great amount of importance because this is the first occasion where a Twenty20 International been worked off in Sri Lanka. The focus also will be on the new players who are of course season campaigners in this type of cricket.

The other major factor will be how the Indian team as the reigning Twenty20 World champions adjust themselves to the shortest version of the game. They have just completed a 4-1 series triumph in the 50 overs game and will be keen to conclude the tour on an impressive note.

India will miss the services of veteran Sachin Tendulkar who left home yesterday after been rested for the fourth and fifth one day internationals. However they still possess a formidable batting line up in the form of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh who in fact won the man of the series award on Sunday.

Sri Lanka too will be looking to redeem their lost prestige and their success in the fifth and final one day international on Sunday at this same venue would certainly provide them with a great amount of confidence.

The return of fast bowler Lasith Malinga back into international scene is another major boost to the home side having played his last one day match for Sri Lanka against Australia on February 2, 2008.

This will be another great chance for him to prove his fitness and capabilities although he has turned out for his club NCC quite regularly in the on going SLC Premier limited over tournament.

The national selectors have also recalled Indika de Saram, Chamara Silva, Kaushalya Weeraratne and Jeewantha Kulatunga following their excellent contributions in the domestic scene. In fact de Saram has been in cracking form for his club Ragama CC with four centuries to his credit.

All rounder Jeewantha Kulatunga too is in tremendous form having led Colts CC to lift the SLC Premier League Tier A title recently while Chamara Silva also makes a comeback following a series of big scores for Bloomfield.

Sri Lanka of course clinched the previous Twenty20 tournament held in Canada while defeating Pakistan in the final. They have won 8 out of the 12 Twenty20 internationals played so far with four defeats. Their batting will revolve around the regular openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillekeratne Dilshan followed by vice captain Chamara Kapugedera and Jehan Mubarak.

The teams: Sri Lanka (from): Tillekeratne Dilshan (captain), Chamara Kapugedera (vice captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Silva, Indika de Saram, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Malinga Bandara, Jeewantha Kulatunga, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Mahela Udawatte and Thilina Thushara.

India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja and Munaf Patel.