Do or die situation for India against the Lankans

Port of Spain, Mar 22 (UNI) It is going to be a do or die situation for India as they take on Sri Lanka in their last group match of the Cricket World Cup at the Queen's Park Oval here tomorrow.

Having lost their opener to Bangladesh last week, India has their task cut out. They have to win to stay alive in the hunt for a berth in the Super Eight stage of the tournament. A lose will see them packing their bags.

Interestingly, Sri Lanks'a thumping 198-run victory over Bangladesh has helped India's cause in a way, otherwise they could have gone home despite victory over the Lankans. But now the Tigers will have to play extraordinary cricket in their last group match against Bermuda to catch up with the two giants of the group on net run rate (NRR).

After yesterday's match Sri Lanka have an NRR of +4.594 against India's +2.507, while Bangladesh have -2.002.

The only available scenario before the 'Men-in-Blue' now is to get an upper hand over Sri Lanka tomorrow, whom they have beaten eight times out of ten in recent times in order to remain alive in the showpiece event.

While Mahela Jayawardene's boys may have lost their last series against the Indians, the team on show here is a very different side.

Till now they have shown two extremely competent performances against Bermuda and Bangladesh and the 1983 champions will be hard-pressed to hold them back.

In two group games, the Lankans batting first have scored in excess of 300-runs on what is widely acknowledged to be a difficult first-hour pitch. Sanath Jayasuriya may have missed out against Bermuda, but carrying a twisted knee he compensated that miss with a blistering 109 against Bangladesh in a rain interrupted tie yesterday.

Other than him, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Chamara Silva have all been among the runs and Silva in particular has impressed greatly.

Given the felicity with which the Lankans play the turning ball, the Indian think tank, in all probability, will opt to go with just the one spinner.

On the bowling front too, Sri Lanka have been looking impressive, whereas India struggled to contain the Bangladeshis and thereafter had to toil hard to bowl out Bermuda.

In short, the Lankans are a trim and focused side, and their captain is keen to seal a win over India even if it is only to avoid conceding the two points that will carry over into the Super 8s.

Indian captain Rahul Dravid would have taken heart from the Bermuda match, but he will know that the chips are now down and his side have no other option but to come up with the win.

Rahul's batsman were a huge let down in the opening game against the Bangladeshis, but they possess the depth and experience to recover. The worrying factor here, surprisingly, is the bowling.

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