Does India hold the edge?
The 2nd ODI between India and Sri Lanka can well turn out to be another high-scoring humdinger.
The pitch as usual is going to batsmen friendly; however, the ground conditions differ slightly. At Nagpur, the ‘dew’ will certainly be a major influencer and hence winning the toss is important.
Apart from the novelty of day-might match and differing ground conditions, both teams are evenly matched. In fact the last 2matches (including the Twenty20), both the teams have matched each other stroke for stroke.
The difference is during the last match everything worked for India. Nehra and Zaheer found the ideal length and swing after the 35th over. The Indian ground fielding kicked in and affected run-outs that proved a body blow to the Sri Lanka team.
From the Indian point of view, Sehwag and Gambhir is the key and if they get going, a high score is assured.
The Sri Lankan’s have a sagging middle order with the ageing Jayasuriya looking uncomfortable in his new role. Mahela is sleep walking through the series and definitely running on empty.
Coming to the bowling, both teams have bowlers who are in shock and awe of the opening pair. The impact of the openers is such that the bowlers are losing their head and pitching short and wide to the rest of the batsmen. Now that Murali has gone back home, the Indian bowling looks much more potent.
All said and done India looks to have the edge but just.
2 comments:
only the toss hold the edge... :)
India appears to have done well so far.
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