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India v Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI

Yet another belter?

CRIClNFO, Nagpur
Cricket
The bowlers of both India and Srl Lanka will head into Nagpur with the Rajkot run fest on their minds, but they won't get much relief from another hard track at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium when sides meet in the second one-day international today.
India have the momentum and victory in Nagpur will give them a formidable 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Making it worse for Sri Lanka is the fact that they are down two bowlers. Muttiah Muralidaran and Dilhara Fernando have been ruled out for the series, meaning the visitors have two fresh faces, both potential debutants, which will not help a side aiming to level the series. It will take a huge effort for them to turn the tide their way on this surface.
The most alarming feature of the limited-
overs leg of this tour has been the fielding of both sides; on what is believed to be another belter of a track, bowling straight and full and, most importantly, taking every chance will be paramount. The fast bowlers on either side were carted around for the first half of both innings in Rajkot, and the epidemic of spilling catches continued from the Tests and 1\venty20s. Three catches and one half chance to Zaheer Khan went down, taking India's drop tally from three limited-overs games this past week to an even dozen.
For one side aiming to tighten their grasp on the series, and the other attempting to clutch a piece of it, wrapping their fingers around the key moments will be decisive.
Sri Lanka's former captain Mahela Jayawardene has experienced an unusual run of form in 2009 where he either gets a start and can't convert or falls early. In 23 innings this year, he has a century and three half-centuries;
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his next-highest score is 33 and three times he's been dismissed without scoring. The law of averages says it's about time for a century, but it will be against a side off which he has only one hundred in 55 innings. To do so, Jayawardene will need to get over his struggles against India's spinners, who have now dismissed him five times - six if you count the run out in Rajkot during a Ravindra Jadeja over -from his seven ODI innings against them in 2009.
Opener Gautam Gambhir has been India's most consistent Test batsman this year but his figures aren't so hot in GDIs. His only century came against Sri Lanka in the first week of February and since then Gambhir has managed four half-centuries. For a determined player, who has made a superb effort to convert fifties into centuries in Tests, changing a habit that hampered him for some time, doing the same in GDIs must be a goal. Given the nature of the Nagpur track -- India eased past 350 runs when they played Australia here in October - it is tough to visualise one of the top three not getting a big score. Gambhir has been able to bat at the top in only ten of 20 innings in 2009; if he gets the chance to
bat at No. 3 today, count on a significant innings.
Yuvraj Singh is almost ruled out -- he has the flu, in addition to his finger injury and missed practice on Thursday -- byt Sehwag has been cleared to play after picking up a knee injury in Nagpur. The batting will remain the same as the first ODI, though Sudeep'iyagi may just fancy a debut ahead of Praveen Kumar.
Apart from the injuries to Muralidaran and Fernando, Sri Lanka also had to sweat on Lasith Malinga's fitness. He
missed the first match and the management will be hopeful of his return to replace Fernando. If not, it could mean a debut for rookie fast bowler Suranga LakmaJ, who teamed up with the squad today, or a spinner coming in. If it is the latter, Ajantha Mendis remains die safe bet but one of Muthumudalige Pushpakumara or Suraj Randiv could debut.
TEAMS
INDIA (likely): Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar. Gautam Gambhir. Mahendra
Singh Dhoni (captain). Suresh Raina. Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja. Harbhajan Singh. Praveen Kumar/Sudeep Tyagi, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.
SRI LANKA (probable): Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Thilan Samaraweera, Thilina Kandamby, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kuiasekara, Chanaka Welegedara/Ajantha Mendis/ Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Lasith Malinga/ Suranga Lakmal.