& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

India, Lanka battle for final time

Pti, Vadodara
Having outplayed the visitors right through the series, India will be eager to continue to stamp their domination over Sri Lanka and finish the seven-match rubber on a rousing note in the final one-dayer here today.
Everything has gone well for the home team, including the experimentation of resting some key players and asking rookies to stand up and be counted, while almost nothing has clicked for the islanders who would be equally anxious to prevent another drubbing from India before returning home.
India are going into the last clash with a commanding 5-1 lead in the series that has seen the two teams traverse across the length of the country from Mohali in the north to Pune in the south-west. Another victory tomorrow will be the ideal boost for the hosts before the best-of-five series against South Africa commencing in a few days.
The high point of the series for India has been the way the youngsters in the team have come up with superb displays when needed. A prime example of this newfound confidence in the newcomers was the way Lucknowbased left arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh performed at Rajkot in the previous tie on a pitch that was largely expected to help the batsman.
R P Singh's four-wicket haul, which earned him the man of the match, must have done wonders for his morale. So too have been the key roles performed earlier in the series by other youngsters like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Venugopal Rao, who has given way to senior Mohammed Kaif on the latter's return from injury.
The Indian strategies took the
visiting Sri Lankans by surprise quite early on in the series and the team were now on track for becoming a “very good” outfit, coach Greg Chappell said today.
“We took them by surprise quite early on from which they struggled to recover. Yes, the first two games (at Nagpur and Mohali) were very important,” Chappell told a media conference on the eve of the final match.
“We are not yet a great team, but we are on the way to become a very good outfit. But we can't afford to relax. You don't know what's lurking round the corner in the form of an injury or lack of form," he said.
Chappell said as the series concludes they have many options for each position and the dilemma was rather whom to leave out.
"When we sit down to select the squad for the series against South Africa we are in a good situation. We have a dilemma over whom to leave out rather than whom to bring in," he said.
The Proteas are set to arrive in Mumbai in the early hours of Saturday to engage the hosts in a best-of-five limited-overs international series starting at Hyderabad on November 16.
Chappell was not too concerned about the lack of a big innings from team vice captain Virender Sehwag who has not scored a half century in the series despite getting solid starts in almost every match.