Lanka looking for dramatic rise

In ICC Rankings by beating India:

Chinthana Wasala reporting from Dambulla

Sri Lanka will be looking to secure a dramatic rise to the second place in the ICC Rankings if they could defeat India in the Tri Series limited overs match at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium under lights today.

Sri Lanka are currently positioned sixth in the table and victory will see them replace India, who is currently in second spot in the rankings, as well as overtaking South Africa, New Zealand and England as well.

Defeat for India in today’s match will send them to the fifth place in the rankings which will put them just one point ahead of England.

In fact India will go into the match under pressure having suffered another blow to their campaign with Yuvraj Singh ruled out of the game after being diagnosed with dengue. “Yuvraj Singh is not available for this game. He has dengue. But he is out of danger,” Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni revealed at the pre-match press conference.

Yuvraj has been battling poor form and fitness for quite sometime and the latest setback just adds to his miseries.

The other players who are on the doubtful starters’ list are fast bowlers Ashish Nehra who is nursing a thigh strain, and Ishant Sharma who is recuperating from a knee injury.

“We are monitoring Ashish Nehra. He has got a bit of problem with his glute. So we will take the exact decision before the game. Ishant is shaping well. As of now these are the two players who may be missing out,” Dhoni said.

“And hopefully by tomorrow there won’t be any addition to the list,” he added. Dhoni, however, dismissed reports that Dinesh Karthik who hurt his hand during the practice session on Saturday, is also a doubtful starter.

“Dinesh Karthik got hit on his thumb but he is fine and it is not a major concern,” he said.

In contrast the Lankans, made a winning start to their campaign although the victory was a rather hard-fought one against the determined New Zealand team.

Sri Lanka’s bowling looked in remarkable form as players like Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews ripped through the New Zealand`s batting line-up but their batting did threaten to let the team down.

The uneven bounce of the track unsettled the hosts and had it not been for the patient knocks by opener Upul Tharanga and skipper Kumar Sangakkara, New Zealand could well have caused another major upset. A lot would also depend on the toss as the teams batting second have complained about the floodlights not being effective enough.

The Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, R. Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Saurabh Tiwary, Munaf Patel.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dilhara Fernando, Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Thisara Perera, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga.