Sri Lanka vs India, 2nd Test, Galle
Preview:
India's tour has started miserably and unless they can lift themselves in all three departments of the game, they will find it difficult to win the series.
Only VVS Laxman managed to score a fifty while four of Sri Lanka's top six crossed the three-figure mark. India's bowlers had to be content with six wickets as Muralitharan and Mendis picked up wickets in heaps. The fielding and catching wasn't up to the mark either.
But Gautam Gambhir has shrugged off the defeat as a one-off and says the Indian team is positive despite the thrashing at Colombo. He also emphasised the need to bat more patiently against Sri Lanka's spin twins.
Sri Lanka captain Jayawardene is expecting a good fightback from the Indians. "I am sure they are very disappointed after the first Test, but we know how good they are. They will definitely come very strong at us and we have to be prepared for that," Jayawardene told reporters. Jayawardene, who has scored 9 centuries at SSC has an enviable record at Galle too, averaging 99.21 in 12 cricket tests.
Pitch: India's batsmen have been warned to expect a "spinner's pitch" for the second test in Galle. Galle ground manager Jayanda Warnaweera, a former Sri Lanka spinner, said he has prepared a surface that will suit the pair. "Although it should help the seamers on the first day, it will start spinning a lot by day three," he added.
Team News: Sri Lanka included uncapped paceman Dammika Prasad earlier this week but it looks unlikely that he will play after Jayawardene hinted that Sri Lanka will field an unchanged team.
Dinesh Karthik was hardly impressive in the first test. He dropped two regulation catches and threw away his wicket with a reckless shot in the first innings. Parthiv Patel would be fancying his chances.
Weather: Thunderstorms have been forecast for all five days of the test match so expect quite a few stop-start days.
Teams:
Sri Lanka (From): Michael Vandort, Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene(c), Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene(w), Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chamara Kapugedera, Chamara Silva, Thilan Thushara, Dammika Prasad
India (From): Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Dinesh Karthik(w), Anil Kumble(c), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma
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