CricDigs Blogs

This does have an air of doing the Aussie thing — a batsman verbally targeting the bowler before the series actually begins. This time it is Virender Sehewag who has sent out a feeler to Mendis — the ace off-spinner from Sri Lanka and the team’s trump card along with Murali. Sehewag has clearly stated that he would be looking to attack the talented but still somewhat inexperienced Mendis and make sure that the bowler doesn’t get into an early rhythm.

As it is, the upcoming five ODI series is due to be engaging with both the teams almost parallel to each other in terms of talent and on-field performance. Well, one big differentiating factor as compared to India’s last tour of SL would be the presence of Sehewag and Tendulkar for the ODIs. Both of them are awesome against spinners and it would be interesting to see if Mendis can weave the same sort of magic he did just about a season ago.

Another crucial thing is the performance of the players who can contribute both with the ball and bat. India have Dhoni, Sehewag, Yuvraj, Pathans and Jadeja (if he does play) performing double roles. Similarly, Lankans benefit from Dilshan, Jayasuriya, Sangakarra and that Maharoof guy. The performance of these players and how seriously they take up their additional duties could be the ultimate deciding feature of the series.

India still doesn’t boast of a very good batting record when facing the slowish Lankan bowlers in the middle overs and this is where Dhoni and Yuvraj become crucial to the team’s cause. Both of them have that amazing sensibility to make sure that the run-rate keeps up, no matter how it is achieved — via running tight singles or taking chances for clearing the field. They have the responsibility of making sure that India’s middle-order batting doesn’t crumble against the Murali-Mendis combination and the batsmen to follow don’t feel choked with the asking run-rate.