A rejuvenated India will be aiming for yet another title triumph when they clash with Sri Lanka in the final of the Celcon Mobile Cup tri-nation ODI series today, Thursday.
The reigning ICC World Cup and Champions Trophy winners, India have the edge as they have lost only seven of the last 20 ODIs played between the two countries. The tri-series final today will be the third final of such major tournaments the two neighbouring countries are meeting in recent times.
Hosts West Indies will be mere observers of the final, taking place at Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.
After their campaign was in tatters, following their back-to-back defeats in the first leg of the tournament, the Indians fought back with two bonus-point wins to cruise into the final, at the expense of the West Indies.
Despite the absence of Dhoni, who was ruled out after the loss to West Indies in their series opener, stand-in skipper Virat Kohli successfully led the Indians to the final.
India entered the final as table-toppers having posted two wins from four matches. Other two teams too have a similar record but India have the advantage of enjoying a better net run-rate.
The Indian team composition for the final will most likely be the same.
The Sri Lankans will once again look to old guards Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara for success against a team that has been their nemesis in recent times.
India’s batting wears a formidable look with the in-form Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma opening the innings. Kohli is the pivot around which the Indian batting revolves.
Then there is Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina with rising all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja completing the batting line-up. And in the event of Dhoni returning to the playing XI, it will only strengthen their batting.
In the bowling department, India’s young bowlers excelled and were largely responsible for setting up victories in the last two matches.
22-year-old seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who produced a career-best spell of 4 for 8 in a devastating exhibition of swing bowling against the Lankans on Tuesday, deserves special mention. The leading wicket-taker in the series with eight scalps from three games, Kumar’s performance in Tuesday’s game is the best by an Indian bowler in the West Indies in ODIs, bettering Amit Mishra’s four for 31 at the same venue in 2011.
As far as the Sri Lankans are concerned, they will have to shore up the batting after the lackluster display against India when they were bundled out for 96 in 24.4 overs while chasing 178 in 26 overs, under the Duckworth-Lewis Method in yet another rain-hit match.
It will take a lot of doing from the likes of Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne and skipper Angelo Mathews to outdo the in-form Indian seamers.
Another factor that works in India’s favour is that they have won four consecutive ODIs on this venue over the last two years.
Regarding Dhoni, he had done a bit of running ahead of their match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday and Kohli had said at the toss that Dhoni could be ready to play the final.
Source: The Islands (Sri Lanka)
