Sanath and Ajantha hold centre stage against Dhoni and Co.

By Ranjan ANANDAPPA

CRICKET: Both captains Mahela Jayawardena, (Sri Lanka) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India) will keep pondering of the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium pitch which has not seen a cricket ball almost for an year, since England last played at this pictureseque venue in October 2007.

Out of the three D/N matches played against England, Sri Lanka won the first one but lost the second and third. England eventually won the ODI series 3/2. Two matches were played at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

Both matches played at Dambulla tomorrow and on Wednesday (18th and 20th) will be day matches starting at 10 am each day.

India will be trying to make amends for the Asia Cup final defeat where Ajantha Mendis and Sanath Jayasuriya held centre stage as India crashed to a shock defeat.

Mendis has not bowled on the Dambulla surface in an international match at all, and along with Muralitharan will find the Indians guessing once again.

The Lankans look like favourites in this five match ODI series by virtue of their 2/1 win in the Test series where Ajantha Mendis and Muralitharan ran through the Indians.

Soon after arriving after a delayed flight , at a press briefing held with regard to the One-day series, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni wished to forget 2/1 defeat in the Test series, and find ways and means of handling his ODI team to combat the Lankans, specially their bogeyman Ajantha Mendis.

India is facing a selection problem with some of their stars on the injured list. Sachin Tendulkar one of them, who was to stay on for the ODI series but had to leave due to an elbow injury which he sustained while fielding during the third Test match at the P.Sara Stadium.

The Indians have included two uncapped players Subramanium Badrinath - a batsman from Tamil Nadu and their Under 19 captain at the last World Cup held in Malaysia which India won, Virat Kohli, to fill the gap created by Tendulkar’s absence.

India will also be minus their main strike bowler Ishant Sharma who was not in the original ODI squad. However, Sharma twisted his ankel while bowling in the third Test.

India’s batting still looks formidable with the likes of Virender Sewag, Gautham Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Rohith Sharma and skipper Dhoni along with the bowlers Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, R. P. Singh, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar who helped to topple the might of Australia and Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Bank ODI Series early this year to win the final.

Mahela Jayawardena will be leading his country for the 77th occasion in an ODI.

He has done well to win 45 matches while he has lost on 26 occasions. Malinda Warnapura who had previously played only in one ODI against Pakistan has been included in the squad and most probably he should open with Sanath Jayasuriya. The teams will be finalised only on the day of the match after a look at the pitch.

Teams

SRI LANKA: Mahela Jayawardena (Captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara (Vice-captain), Chamara Kapugedera, Chamara Silva, Jehan Mubarak, T. M. Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekera, Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Udawatte, Thilina Thushara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando.

INDIA: (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautham Ghambir, Suresh Raina, Rohith Sharma, Yuraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Subramanium Badrinath, Irfan Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, R. P. Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar.