Dhoni's Indians confident of beating Sri Lanka in the fifth and final one-dayer in Colombo today
Dhoni's Indians confident of beating Sri Lanka in the fifth and final one-dayer in Colombo today
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PILOTS: Skipper MS Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten have their eyes set on the fifth ODI pic/AFP |
This seems to be a week of firsts for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Co. After becoming the first Indian ODI team to win nine matches in a row and then climbing up to the second spot for the first time in the ICC international rankings with their convincing win in the fourth one-dayer on Friday, Dhoni's devils are aiming to complete their first whitewash in a five-match series at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
A 5-0 series whitewash is something that India have never done before. The closest India came to a whitewash in a series that had more than three ODIs was 20 years ago. Hosting John Wright's New Zealand, India led by Dilip Vengsarkar were leading 4-0 before the last match in Jammu was washed out.
India's 5-0 thrashing of England in November cannot be termed as a "series whitewash" since the last two ties of the seven-match series were indefinitely postponed due to the terror attack in Mumbai.
Going by the form of both teams in the series so far, the only factor that can stop India for completing a clean sweep is the weather.
After Friday's win, skipper Dhoni had said that he would want to continue the winning streak and win his 10th match in succession. And pace spearhead Ishant Sharma said India were keen to make a clean sweep with a win in the final match.
"Definitely, we will try to make it 5-0. We have to keep the momentum going. We have been playing positive cricket in the series and hope to do that tomorrow also," Sharma said on Saturday.
On the other hand, under-pressure Sri Lanka will be looking to restore their pride with a victory in the last game.
The hosts have lost the previous four matches following inconsistent performances with both bat and ball, but skipper Mahela Jayawardene said the team was not short of motivation.
"A lot of international cricket is coming up, so we have to win this game to take the confidence into the next series (in Pakistan later this month)," the Sri Lankan captain said on Saturday.
Fresh game"We have been trying different things in this series, but it hasu00a0 not worked for us. It's a fresh game tomorrow and we will try our best to win it. It is a challenge for us and we just cannot give up."
Jayawardene hoped his team would put in a disciplined performance after making crucial mistakes in previous matches.
Redemption"Everybody is looking forward to redeeming himself. Everybody is disappointed with the way we have played so far," he said.
Sri Lanka failed to match India in batting in all the matches, with opener Sanath Jayasuriya being the only player to score a hundred.
Record-breaking off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and unorthodox off-spinner Ajantha Mendis also could not keep pressure on a strong Indian batting line-up, having so far picked only three wickets apiece, conceding over five runs an over.
