Injury concerns apart, India keen to win series

Visakhapatnam, Feb 16 (UNI) The absence of Sachin Tendulkar and injury concerns of a struggling Irfan Pathan notwithstanding, team India would be keen to sign off the last encounter before the World Cup on a winning note when it meets Sri Lanka in the decisive fourth and the final ODI at the ACA-VDCA stadium here tomorrow.

The fact that this would be the last chance for the team to iron out the shortcomings ahead of the mega event adds more significance to the contest, which is expected to be a tall scoring affair.

For both teams, a win would not only help them to clinch the series, but would also provide a psychological edge for their preparation, besides boosting the confidence level for the quadrennial event beginning at the Caribbean Islands next month.

The contest would also help the home team to sort out the middle order worries and to finalise the strategy to handle the slog overs, which had cost them the match at Rajkot.

With Sachin rested due to a back spasm and the BCCI releasing the fringe players (standbys for Yuvraj and Pathan) Suresh Raina and R P Singh for Ranji One-dayers, team India skipper Rahul Dravid would be grappling with selection problems to field the final XI.

The question is what combination would Dravid go for. Will Irfan Pathan be in the final XI tomorrow remains to be seen. After resting him for the last match due to a niggling shoulder injury, the team management was thinking of giving him an extended rest as a precautionary measure to prevent him from aggravating the injury.

The message from the sources close to the team was that the injury was not that alarming and that he was in good shape.

''It's highly unlikely that he will be in the final XI,'' sources close to the team said and added if he was not 100 per cent fit, there was no point in risking him ahead of the World Cup.

If he does not figure in the final eleven tomorrow, Irfan Pathan, who was sent back from South African tour and later picked in the team, would be leaving the shores for Carribean, having played just one match in three months.

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