Exciting series ahead, promise India, Lankan captains
With the World Cup football fever finally finished, all eyes are set on the upcoming India-Sri Lanka Test series. The Indian team is in Sri Lanka for a three-match test series starting from July 18th. While addressing a press conference, Indian captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820 and his Sri Lankan counterpart Kumar Sangakkara have assured the fans that they would be playing for a result and that draws will be the last thing on their mind. The Indian captain said that the aim of most of the players is to conclusively win the game and one senses that if he were to live up to his words, the fans could be in for a treat.
India is currently the number one Test team in the world. However, they are struggling with their bowling as its key bowlers Zaheer Khan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanath were declared unfit due to injuries. Even the star spinner Harbhajan Singh is down with viral infection and has been ruled out for the three-day practice match. The Indian captain expressed his concerns over the fitness of the bowlers but seemed satisfied with the team’s overall performance in last few Test matches. Nevertheless, the skipper has emphasised the need to build a strong bowling department in the team constituting five to six active bowlers.
While the Sri Lankan team isn’t affected by any injuries they too do not have a very impressive bowling side. Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Ferando will be making a comeback in Test cricket after a long gap of two and a half years. Nuwan Kulasekara, who had given some impressive performances in the past, but in the shorter variety of the game, has been dropped. Thus, with both sides having a somewhat feeble bowling side, the series is expected to be a high scoring one.
India-Sri Lanka Test series have always been a showcase of exciting cricket. The teams have played 32 test matches so far, and of these India won 12, Sri Lanka have been victorious five times, with 14 draws.
Back in 2008, when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anil-Kumble-c44737 led the Indian team to Sri Lanka for a three match Test series, Sri Lanka over powered India claiming the series with 2-1. Last year, when Sri Lanka visited India for a three match test series India grabbed the series with 2-0. In the third test match of this series, Indian team put up whopping 729 runs, their highest total ever in a test match.
With this series victory India became the number one test cricket team in the world, a title they have managed to hold so far. Keeping in mind their previous encounters, this India http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 series is also set to be an action packed one and both the captain’s claims strengthen the speculation. Of course, the fans could get a tad bored given that the two sides have played each other many times, but the captains seem to be unbothered.
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara assured the fans that his team will put their best game forward and make every effort to claim the series. This will be Sri Lanka’s second series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 as they had played their last Test series against India in the end of 2009 and do not have any other test matches scheduled for them this year.
This series will also be important from the statistician’s point of view. Sri Lankan legendary bowler, Muttiah http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muralidharan-c78036, who is just eight short of 800 Test wickets is set to retire after the first Test match against India. The question on everyone lips is whether he will be able to get through to 800 wickets. If he does, he would have picked up eight wickets and it is rather difficult to imagine an Indian win from there.
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