India's batting under pressure as SL eye series win

Asela Gunaratne

Atmospheric conditions in north India have haunted Sri Lanka right through their tour of India. If it was the smog in Delhi, it was rain in Dharamsala. On Monday, they spent four hours at the airport with their chartered flight unable to take off. They returned to their hotels and only flew to Mohali on Tuesday, the eve of the third ODI.

North India, however, has been kind to Sri Lanka from a cricketing standpoint; they left Delhi with a heartening draw in the third Test, and trounced India in the first ODI in Dharamsala, ending a 12-match losing streak in the format.

India, as a result, are the team under pressure ahead of the second ODI. Questions hover over their batting, in particular, as it will for any team that stumbles to 29 for 7 in the absence of its best batsman. Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey occupied Nos. 3, 4 and 5 in Dharamsala, and between them scored 11 off 60 balls, none of them convincing with their techniques against the moving ball. India will not want to make wholesale changes after one loss in unusual conditions, but they will not have been too impressed with what they saw of their upper middle order.

For Sri Lanka, meanwhile, this is a chance to end an otherwise miserable year in 50-overs cricket on a high. At various points during this tour, they have shown sparks of the team they could become if their talent is harnessed right; a win in Mohali could accelerate that process.

 

Form guide

India: LWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: WLLLL

Team news

India aren't known to make too many changes after one defeat, but the solidity of Ajinkya Rahane could be an option if they were to relax their policy of playing him as an opener or not at all. The fingerspin of Axar Patel could also come into consideration - possibly at Kuldeep Yadav's expense - if they want to strengthen their lower order.

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Dinesh Karthik, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Axar Patel/Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.

Lahiru Thirimanne's horror tour continued with a duck in Dharamsala. Sri Lanka have plenty of options to take his place if they decide to leave him out, with Kusal Perera, Sadeera Samarawickrama and - if fit - Dhananjaya de Silva all in contention.

Sri Lanka: 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne/Kusal Perera/Sadeera Samarawickrama/Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 6 Asela Gunaratne, 7 Thisara Perera (capt), 8 Sachith Pathirana, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Akila Dananjaya, 11 Nuwan Pradeep.

Pitch and conditions

Mohali seldom plays true to what is now an outdated reputation for pace and bounce, but it is still the north Indian winter, with maximum temperatures in the high teens or low twenties, and there has been some rain about in the lead-up to the match, so fast bowlers can expect a certain amount of help.

Last year, the seamers took eight out of 13 wickets in an ODI against New Zealand in which an unbeaten 154 from Virat Kohli and an 80 from Dhoni helped India chase down 286.