India holds edge over depleted Lanka in tomorrow's T20 tie

World Champions favourites as wisitors set to rest key players

On a high after demolishing Sri Lanka 4-1 in the just-concluded ODI series, world champions India will have a distinct edge over the depleted hosts when the sides lock horn in the first Twenty20 international cricket match on Lankan soil.

Sri Lanka will hope to carry forward some of the confidence regained after winning the fifth and final match but yesterday's defeat was just a blip on the Indian team's radar after Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men dictated terms for the most part of the series. With Sri Lanka deciding to rest key players, including regular captain Mahela Jayawardene, deputy Kumar Sangakkara and spiners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, Tillakaratne Dilshan will have an unenviable task at hand when he walks out for the toss tomorrow. Having achieved clinched the ODI series, the Indian team would be relaxed and tomorrow's match would be an ideal opportunity for the stroke players to light up the stadium with batting pyrotechnics.

A victim of serial umpiring blunders, Sachin Tendulkar has already returned home but going by the kind of form Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are in, the Lankans bowlers will have tough time taming the Delhi duo. Containing someone like Yuvraj Singh is no mean task either, as the Lankan bowlers realised yesterday. Not that Dhoni himself is a dud with the bat. Even though the Indian captain has evolved his batting and moulded himself as a finisher, he remains essentially a swashbuckler, who prefers to deal in fours and sixes. The likes of Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma can improvise at will, while Yusuf Pathan's six-hitting ability is beyond any doubt. Even though the Indian team does not have Harbhajan Singh in its ranks and Zaheer Khan is likely to be rested, the bowling unit is quite effective. Ishant Sharma has proved time and again that his mastery of the craft is enough to trouble the best of the batsmen, while Praveen Kumar too is eager to prove his worth. Irfan Pathan too would not be low on motivation, while comeback man L Balaji, if given a chance, would be eager to prove that he can more than make up for his lack of pace with guile and variation.

Squads: India; M S Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma and L Balaji.

Sri Lanka; Tillakaratne Dilshan (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Kapugedera, Chamara Silva, Indika de Saram, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Malinga Bandara, Jeevantha Kulatunga, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Mahela Udawatte, Thilan Thushara.

Match starts at 6 pm

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