Bar risen, Team India ready to up the ante

It will be the second one-day international hosted at this ground—the last match was played between Zimbabwe and South Africa during the 1992 World Cup—and there’s a special buzz (no, it’s not the flies this time) in the 15,000 seater coming from the densely populated South Asian natives. They have been watching international cricketers during the PM XI Games each year, but the prospect of watching both their favourite teams together in action has the sold-out sign hanging outside the venue gates.

Both Sri Lanka and India have one suspect knee each in the middle order in T Dilshan and Yuvraj Singh, respectively; both teams have played one of their tour games here to know the feel of the ground and the pitch conditions. However, that is the only commonness between the teams as they go head-on, on a perfect batting track that is assumed to be the first high-scoring match from the past week.

The teams had distinct preparatory procedures: while India landed in the afternoon and skipped nets, the Sri Lankans had a long, hectic training session and it will be interesting to see whether the confidence of the Indian team or the steely determination of Sri Lankans to show their bounce-back ability prevails at the Manuka.

Muralitharan, meanwhile, is more secure now here. This outfield has little chance of a bad bounce that gave him an orange tooth after the blow on his front set last match, but skipper Mahela Jayawardene feels Murali looks a lot prettier that way—and the Indians too won’t disagree after having handled him with great calm the other day. Their own off-spinner Harbhajan Singh finally looked a shade of his own and is keen to trouble this Lankan middle-order that looked shaky under a disciplined bowling.

The likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Dilshan and Chamara Silva make up for an array of prized-bats but all fell to shots not befitting their stature or situation of the match. Sri Lanka have been struggling to get off a to big or quick start and the onus will once again be on fast bowlers Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma to buy the opposition top-order at the cheapest price, for the Indian team is set to wear the same look under the sun as they did under the lights last night.

The batting order might be restored to its original with Gautam Gambhir back at No. 3 slot with a likely swap between Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj at No. 4. The latter, who failed in his bid to resurrect his batting form the last time he came here after two Tests, returns after flopping once again in two ODIs now and he would be keen to cash in on this time around as India await in anticipation of a big score from him.

Even the expectations on the India have risen sky-high after their resounding win. Suddenly the bar of performance has been raised quite a few notches overnight and the challenges have been altered in shape.

From the hopes of doing well Down Under against two tough opponents, this young band of boys now face the ultimate test of consistency—that’s what Jayawardene wants to see in this team to recognise their feats against Australia.

And that’s what Dhoni is willing to display as a big postcard and say to the world that his side is a consistent world-beater. And that everyday is a Sunday.