Familiar foes, big stage, advantage India

Do a guesstimate: who has played the maximum number of ODIs against India? Maybe the question irks, so obvious is the answer. It’s Sri Lanka, 139 matches in all. India have played their neighbours so often that it is difficult to pick the best ODI encounters between them if one goes down the memory lane. Think of an international calendar without India meeting Sri Lanka at least once. Fair to say that they know each other’s game like the back of their hands.

But Cardiff may not present us just another India-Sri Lanka encounter. The two teams will play their most important match after the 2011 World Cup final.  This is the Champions Trophy semifinal; and where this tournament is concerned, the two sides will renew an unfinished scrap. They had clashed in the 2002 CT finals. Both the matches were washed out making them joint winners. Being the last edition of the tournament, the semifinal on Thursday is bound to be sprinkled with spice.

Meanwhile, the world is talking about India — an India we least expected to see. Remember the prelude before MS Dhoni’s men set foot in England.  They have dominated all their league games beating Australia, Pakistan and West Indies en route to the last four.

It’s the Indian batting that has commanded attention, so much so that the lower middle-order is going into the big game without a hit in the middle.

“Their batting looks really strong, so those are key areas we need to focus on,” said Mahela Jayawardene after Sri Lanka’s resounding win over Australia.

Former Sri Lankan batsman Duleep Mendis believes that the Angelo Mathews-led side can pose a question or two to India’s famed batters. “It is their top-order which has played the most. The middle-order has not really got the chance to assess themselves in these conditions,” he said.

Not that Champaka Ramanayake, Sri Lanka’s former bowling coach, is entirely convinced. “India’s middle-order is too strong, for they have someone like MS Dhoni. Even if the top-order fails, India will not be affected,” he felt. Both agree that Sri Lanka score just a bit over India in experience. “That is what separates the two sides.

Even though India have a strong batting line-up they lack experience, while Sri Lanka have the likes of (Mahela) Jayawardene, (Kumar) Sangakkara and (Tillakaratne) Dilshan,” said Mendis, who also thought that Sri Lanka had better variety and imagination in the attack. It could be an advantage but only just, said Ramanayake. According to Ramanayake, India’s batting is just oozing too much class. So while Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath may be discussed in team meetings, trust that India will lose sleep over them.