India go into the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament against a confident Sri Lanka in Colombo on Sunday, keen to break a jinx which has haunted the team in summit showdowns for a long time.
Despite having emerged a powerful force in world cricket in recent times, the Indians have lost nine finals in tournaments featuring more than two teams and Sourav Ganguly and his men would be keen to make amends in what promises to be an engrossing day-night tussle at the Premadasa Stadium.
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Skipper Ganguly is not unduly bothered by these statistics saying his team had done enough in the last few years to dispel the notion that they crumble under pressure in the finals.
"We won in the West Indies when we were 1-1. We then beat Pakistan when were 2-2. These were as good as finals. Then of course there was the NatWest title," Ganguly said.
Ganguly conceded that Sri Lanka, who have been in good form, are a tough side at home and would be strengthened further with the return of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas.
"They would be boosted by Vaas and Murali but it isn't as if we would be playing them for the first time, we know how to tackle them."
Ganguly and his men, who pipped Pakistan on bonus points to reach the final, are aware that even as India has made big strides in recent years, teams such as England and South Africa too have picked up pace. Only consistency in winning is the surefire method to keep the graph moving upward.
It is an important season for the unit as it faces strong teams like Australia and South Africa at home and Pakistan would come into the picture early next year. In between comes the prestigious Champions Trophy which could be an indicator of the form book of the frontrunners of the 2007 World Cup.
India have been beaten by both Sri Lanka (in the preliminary round) and Pakistan (Super League) here and their narrow win against Sri Lanka in their last Super League match could only be termed as miraculous.
Sri Lanka have been further boosted by the return of Vaas and Muralitharan, the lynchpins of their attack, and batting is once again in the able hands of Sanath Jayasuriya, skipper Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene.
The noticeable aspect of Sri Lanka's resurgence in this series, after crashing to the World Champions Down Under, is the able support cast of Avishka Gunawardene, Kumara Sangakkara, Saman Jayantha, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Chandana which gives their batting a very healthy look.
Still the Lankan batting is way below India's powerful first seven batters which is now back to its original strength with the return of stylish VVS Laxman.
Laxman has had a horrid tour, plagued as he has been with a badly bruised left knee. He batted in just one low-key match against UAE and did not turn up to bat against Bangladesh. He can now leave his stamp in India's quest for a rare title win.
Marvellous as Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly have been, India's batting thrust in recent one-day series has come from Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Laxman, not to forget the little cameos which Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif always seem to conjure up low in the order.
It is these three men who are seen as key to India's success in tomorrow's game.
India also need to sort out its batting combination. They can not afford two spinners, as there are enough men who can turn their arm over for the second spinner's slot. It must, and probably will, rely on three medium-fast bowlers even though all of them are left-armers, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan.
The Indians are an aggressive unit but they need to lift themselves in the all-important game. Australia does it perfectly and seem to reserve their best for the title game.
A leaf out of the world champions book would imply that Indians need to be at their razor sharp best in the field, accurate in bowling and bombers with the bat. Any hesitancy will be nothing less than timidity for the ambitious Ganguly's eleven.
The pitch at the Premadasa has begun to get a little slower than usual and that could be because of its heavy usage in the preliminary round and Super League stage. It goes without saying any team which wins the toss will choose to bat.
Ganguly would be hoping that good things in tomorrow's game will start with the flip of the coin.
Teams:
India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan.
Sri Lanka: Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Avishka Gunawardene, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumara Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Muthiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Zoysa, Upul Chandana, Saman Jayantha and Ferveez Maharoof.
Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and David Shepherd (Eng)
Match referee: Mike Procter.
Hours of play (IST): 2.15 to 5.45 p.m; 6.25 p.m till close of play
