India v Sri Lanka, 1st ODI, Rajkot

Article first published at 6.43 PM
Updated at 5.05 AM

A suspected hairline fracture to his left little finger suffered during the 2nd T20 match at Mohali has put a question mark against Yuvraj Singh's availability for the ODI series opener against Sri Lanka.

Initially, the injury was expected to put him out of action for a couple of weeks, but according to Dhoni, it now appears that subject to fitness he may well play in the 1st ODI itself.

India looks formidable even if Yuvraj is out injured. Sachin’s return has strengthened the already strong batting line up.

In a way, India has nothing to worry over Yuvraj’s injury as the lesser renowned but equally talented Suresh Raina can take up his role.However, Virat Kohli is expected to replace Yuvraj Singh.

With return of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, India is definitely a stronger side. There is also Jadeja and Praveen Kumar to control the middle overs. However, the team will certainly look at Zaheer and Harbhajan to throttle the opposition during the final overs.

Coming to the fielding, the Indian cricketers in general have been safe catchers and moderately adequate when it comes to ground fielding.

Nevertheless, the teams display during the T20 matches was abnormal enough for Dhoni to describe it as fishy. Probably, the methods introduced by the new fielding coach Mike Young may have been too radical.

Now that the cricketers have become familiar with his training methods, the overall fielding should improve.

On paper, the Indian ODI team is far ahead of the Sri Lanka cricket team. However, as a fielding unit, India is inferior to them and it may well prove to be their Achilles heel.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Sudeep Tyagi and Virat Kohli.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (Captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dilhara Fernando, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilina Kandamby, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Tharanga, Chanaka Welegedara

Umpires: Shahvir Tarapore and Marais Erasmus.

Catch the India v Sri Lanka, 1st ODI, Rajkot match live on Neo Sports from 9.00 AM and on Geo Super.