Big Picture
After a hiding in the first game in Dambulla, India have regrouped well to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Much of the success has been due to the seam duo of Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar who, with their contrasting styles, have found chinks in Sri Lanka's imposing top order. India's batting wears a rather thin look in terms of form and numbers but the bowlers have compensated for that by relentlessly chipping away at the wickets and not allowing any top-order partnerships to develop.
Sri Lanka have their backs to the wall and need to win the next two to round off a victorious summer. The scenario is similar to last year's home series against England, which they conceded 3-2 after winning the first game. Since their 5-0 clean sweep against South Africa four years ago, their only bilateral series wins have come against Bangladesh. Surprisingly, their batting hasn't been up to scratch, contrary to the popular perception of their invincibility on home pitches. Mahela Jayawardene's 94 yesterday was the highest score by a Sri Lankan at home in 14 complete ODIs, after Upul Tharanga's 105 against Bangladesh in 2005. Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara have yet to fire in this series, Tillakaratne Dilshan has failed to convert his starts and the persistence with Chamara Silva hasn't paid off.
Sri Lanka have just a day to get their act together and keep the series alive. They haven't ever lost two successive ODI series at home, and Jayawardene will be desperate to ensure it doesn't happen now.
Squads
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Mahela Udawatte, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Chaminda Vaas, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thilan Thushara, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.
India 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 S Badrinath, 7 Rohit Sharma, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Munaf Patel.
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