Bolstered by their dramatic comeback in the tournament, a rejuvenated India will be gunning for yet another title triumph when they clash with an equally determined Sri lanka in the final of the tri-nation ODI series here on Thursday.
The reigning Champions Trophy winners may also get a further boost with the possibility of their regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni returning to the playing XI after being laid low by a hamstring injury. A decision will be taken about Dhoni’s avaibility before the toss. Their campaign in tatters after back-to-back defeats in the first leg of the tournament, the Indians fought back with two bonus-point wins to cruise into the final at the expense of hosts West Indies. Despite the absence of Dhoni, who was ruled out after the loss to West Indies in their series opener, stand-in skipper Virat Kohli successfully braved a difficult phase with the ‘Men in Blue’ rising to the occasion.
India entered the final as table-toppers having posted two wins from four matches — same as the other two teams — but they had the advantage of enjoying a better net run-rate. The Indian team composition for the game at the Queen’s Park Oval will more or less be the same. If Dhoni is declared fit, Murali Vijay will make way for the senior player. However, one thing is for sure that neither Kohli nor Dhoni is going to tinker with the winning composition.
The Sri lankans will once again look to old guards Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara for success against a team that has been their nemesis in a few tournament finals, including the 2011 World Cup. Both Jayawardene and Sangakkara have had their share of success against India in the past and it will be crucial from the islanders’ point of view that the two veterans click for the team.
But it won’t be easy for the Sri lankans as they had just suffered a defeat to India, a result that paved the way for their South Asian neighbour’s convincing entry into the title clash ahead of the hosts. Though they haven’t really set the Caribbean islands ablaze with their exploits, India’s batting still wears a formidable look with the in-form Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma opening the innings.
Rohit made an unbeaten 48 on Tuesday’s against Sri lanka to go with his 46 in their 102-run victory against the West Indies. Dhawan fell early but compiled a fluent 77-ball 69 in the win against the hosts. Kohli is the pivot around which the Indian batting revolves, and the Delhi player left his mark with a centuty off just 83 balls in their penultimate round-robin match against the West Indies. As far as the Sri lankans are concernd, they will have to shore up the batting after the lackluster display against India when they were bundled out for 96 in yet another rain-hit match.