Thisara to replace injured Mathews for third one-dayer:
Sri Lanka brimming with confidence
Shirajiv Sirimane in India
Sri Lanka will go into the third one-dayer against India brimming
with confidence at the Barabati Stadium here on Monday. The openers
Tillekeratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga had been giving the team century
opening stands while Sangakkara too is in form. The bowlers too are up
to the mark and the only problem the team is facing are injuries. Sri
Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews will miss the rest of the One-Day
International series in India because of injury.
The medium-pacer strained his right quadriceps during his
match-winning 37 not out in Friday’s second ODI, which the tourists won
by three wickets to level the five-match series 1-1.
Uncapped all-rounder Thisara Perera was named as Mathews’ replacement
on a tour that has already seen four bowlers return home injured. Sri
Lankan skipper said that in addition to injuries fielding was not
consistent. “We hope to improve on this on Monday,” he said. The final
selection would be made after inspecting the wicket before the start of
play.
With a batting-friendly wicket on offer, another high scoring
spectacle seems to be on the cards as the pitch will assist batsmen and
it promises to be a 300-plus wicket.
“We have given our best to prepare a batting wicket. We hope it turns
out to be a batsmen’s paradise on the lines of what we witnessed in
Rajkot and Nagpur,” curator Pankaj Patnaik said.
“Bowlers will get good bounce and there will be a little turn for
spinners but we have to make sure the wickets offer lots of runs as it’s
a One-day match after all,” Patnaik said.
Traditionally, Barabati has been a lucky venue for India who have won
eight, lost four and one was abandoned due to rain in 13 outings.
But they have a poor record against Sri Lanka in Barabati, having
lost to them in the only one-dayer played between the two countries on
December 28, 1990.
After Dhoni was banned for two ODIs with immediate effect for the
team’s slow over-rate during the second one-dayer in Nagpur Karthik will
keep wickets for the third and fourth matches while paceman Ishant
Sharma has also been recalled into the squad in place of fellow paceman
Sreesanth who has been out of action since testing positive for swine
flu.
Yuvraj Singh, who has not played a single match because of a finger
injury and flu, has been retained in the squad.
Located in Cuttack in the State of Orissa, the stadium is spread over
an area of 25 acres to accommodate as many as 35,000 spectators at a
time.
Apart from cricket, Barabati Stadium is the venue for a number of
cultural activities in Orissa. The stadium has hosted one-day
international matches.
The historic Eden Gardens will be the venue for the fourth match on
December 24 which would also be a day night fixture.
CUTTACK, India |