The teams

Sri Lanka (from):

Angelo Mathews (Captain), Kusal Perera, TM Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Ashan Priyanjan, Niroshan Dickwella, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Dhammika Prasad, Lahiru Gamage, Chaturanga de Silva, Seekuge Prasanna and Suraj Randiv.

India (from):

Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay, Varun Aaron, Akshar Patel.

 

Hosts India and Sri Lanka may have qualms of what both teams’ real intentions and expectations are from a swiftly arranged 5-match One Day International series but, like it or not, it will finally come alive at the Barabati Stadium in northern city of Cuttack today. The day-night game will be the 19th ODI to be hosted at this venue, with the last game between India and Australia being abandoned nearly a year ago on October 26,

2013.

Both teams will certainly make use of this ODI series as an opportunity to do some fine tuning to their teams for the forthcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, to be held in Australia and New Zealand, but clinching the series will be at the bottom of the minds of Angelo Mathews and India’s stand-in skipper Virat Kohli. The meeting at Cuttack between India and Sri Lanka will be their 145th in an ODI as Mathews; the Sri Lanka captain considers any tour of India a fresh challenge.

Sri Lanka will surely never underestimate an Indian team who come out even minus the iconic MS Dhoni, but if Kohli could get his instincts intact, as he did with the World Cup winning India Under-19s in 2008, then India is looking at a home run.

Sri Lanka in contrast will look at shaping up, with their eyes on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 and with some new kids on the block.

“The opening slot is something we’ll definitely look at. That’s why we’re taking three openers on this tour. We need to look at Upul (Tharanga) and Kusal (Perera). The preparation is not 100 per cent but we’ll try and get our combinations right. That’s what we are looking to get out of this tour. There are a few young players, so we will give them opportunities. We see this as an opportunity to settle our combinations, because the World Cup is what is really important,” Mathews stated before leaving Sri Lanka last Tuesday.

Before today’s game the Sri Lankans played their only warm-up game against an India ‘A’ side lead by Manoj Thiwary which went on to clobber 382 runs for the loss of six wickets at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. But from the visitor’s point of view they made the maximum of the outing.

Sri Lanka used ten bowlers and tried to give all their batsmen a firsthand opportunity to get exposed to Indian conditions. Now they will have the opportunity of doing further experiments while the ODI series is on, with replacements on cards after the third game.

Sri Lanka will be sans their frontline fast bowler Lasith Malinga, leading leg-spinner Rangana Herath and middle-order batsmen Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, who is also Mathews’ deputy. But as Mathews points out the tour itself an opportunity of experiments, to try out some of Sri Lanka’s new talent on their way to the World Cup. Some of them will be Ashan Priyanjan, Niroshan Dickwella, Chathuranga de Silva and uncapped fast bowler Lahiru Gamage, who turns out for Chilaw Marians in the domestic circuit.

“We’re missing our two best bowlers in Rangana and Lasith, but it’s a good opportunity to see what the others can do. Not just for the bowlers but the batsmen as well – it’s a chance for a lot of them to nail down a permanent place in the team. To put huge pressure on ourselves to win is not that wise, at this stage. We know that if everyone is fit, that our World Cup team will be different. So with that in mind, we’ll be thinking about who can be a part of the team going forward, and what individual players can get out of it,” Sri Lanka coach Marvan Atapattu said.

The outcome of the solitary warm-up game for Sri Lanka, where the visitors got to do all their testing prior to the 5-match series may have depicted a different picture. Chasing 383 runs for victory, the Sri Lankans made 294 runs for the loss of nine wickets with Upul Tharanga stroking the solitary half century, a 75-ball 76 with 13 fours, but others too made the most out of the game.

India ‘A’ won the game by 88 runs after losing just six wickets. Mathews’ may have thought of claiming few more wickets but ten bowlers in action in a game where all 15 got an even opportunity is something that the visitors could not afford to lose.

Having done it all, even without advanced preparation Mathews’ and his men will certainly eye to finish the first game with a win and go up early in the series. The Sri Lankans have been quite consistent in the recent times in ODI’s and so has been India, which makes this proxy series to replace the remaining part of the West Indies tour to India, an interesting one.

“We play every game to win, but with that, we’re also looking at the bigger picture. Like what can we expect from the players who are taking part? What is their ability? We have about 20 matches between now and the World Cup. That’s about the number of ODI games some teams play in a year. The challenge is to peak at the right time. Because we have 20 matches to go, we shouldn’t become too concerned just yet,” Atapattu added.
The Indians too on the other hand will have both options – winning and experimenting for the World Cup – in their minds. Dhoni opting to take a break in the first three games, Kohli taking charge of the side and with a fleet of youngsters in the squad, India wouldn’t mind winning the series early and then doing a bit more experiments. But they will certainly not risk their reputation against one of the most unpredictable sides in world cricket.

This will be an ideal opportunity for Sri Lanka to record their first bilateral ODI series in India. The Sri Lanka team is in India as a replacement for West Indies, whose players refused to continue with the full tour because of payment structure disputes with their board and player’s association earlier this month.

Opportunity for both India and Sri Lanka to claim number-one ODI ranking The five-ODI series which begins in Cuttack today will give both Sri Lanka and India opportunity of reaching the number-one position on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings. India currently sits in third position behind South Africa and Australia, and leads fourth-ranked Sri Lanka by two ratings points. However, if the home side wins the series by 4-1 or better, then it will jump to the top of the leader board.A 4-1 series win will put India at par with South Africa on 115 ratings points, but when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, then it will be ranked number-one. A 5-0 sweep will mean India will take a two-point lead over South Africa.In contrast, the task for Sri Lanka is more challenging. To achieve the number-one position, Sri Lanka will have to win all five matches. If they clinch the series 5-0, Sri Lanka will join South Africa on 115 ratings points but will be ranked number-one by a fraction of a point. If the visitors win the series by 4-1, then it will swap places with the reigning world champion.