Battle Royal in the offing as Sri Lanka locks horns with West Indies

VENUE: Pallekele International Cricket Stadium

DATE: 29^th September, 2012

TIME: 19:30 (IST)

A day ago, West Indies had taken England’s bowling attack to the cleaners while Sri Lanka fought a rare “Super Eight” battle to begin the race for semis on a winning note. New challenges await both the teams as they will lock horns on Saturday on a familiar surface of Pallekele. Both the teams are everybody’s pick from Group 1 to make it to the next stage. The one who will emerge as victorious will be the first to get the semi-final berth. On paper, Lanka has the edge over West Indies for it is the latter’s weak bowling unit which might pull them down. The pitch at Pallekele has a lot of runs in it and given potent batting line-ups of both the teams, the team batting first will look to post a target in excess of 170.

West Indies’ batting has been fierce so far and the picture looks quite bright as batsmen are chipping in with good scores, with Gayle being instrumental in all the damages being inflicted to opponents. Most likely Darren Sammy will field seven proper batsmen like he did against England but they require not an extra batsman but a bowler who can balance the attack and lessen West Indies’ bowling woes. Teams have realized that a balanced attack has to have two spinners for no matter how the curator prepares the pitch, subcontinent tracks do help slow bowlers.

According to skipper Sammy, Sunil Narine will be their “trump card”. A lot has been made of his successful IPL outing and it would be interesting to see how Lankans will decode this mystery bowler. He will be accompanied by colt Samuel Badree who too needs to be discovered for his international career is just three T20s old. He did a decent job against England. Ravi Rampaul may have had a dream start against England but his bowling is not dependable, often tends to go wayward and lacks variation. Against Australia, he was banged hard and he met the same fate against England when Morgan and Hales were batting. So Andre Russell’s role will be crucial as a seamer. A fine ODI all-rounder, he has not accomplished much in T20s but this handy batsman’s ODI bowling figures suggest that he can serve his team well.

If West Indies can boast of its unread spin, Lankans are ready to counter attack with Ajantha Mendis and Akila Dananjaya. Players have seen the former many a times but his bowling guile is hard to tame. One international old, right arm spinner Dananjaya, who rose to fame during SLPL, intrigued and impressed with his ability to bowl six different deliveries in an over and is likely to play his second international match after his eye catching performance against the Kiwis. Spinners from both the island countries will fight to establish their supremacy and who will better whom will partly depend upon the batsmen of both the sides, who by now must be studying to decipher them for the test is a difficult one.

Apart from spinners, Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara are fine, crafty fast bowlers who are not easy to get away. Best in the T20 business, Malinga is a top IPL bowler and Kulasekara has had a noticeable IPL 2012. Both have been consistent but both are yet to come out of the shadow of the spinners. Batting has been reliable with the likes of Dilshan, Jayawardene and Sangakara to lead the accomplished all-rounders- Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera and Thirimanne, known for his ability to finish the matches. The peculiar feature of the Lankan line-up is that it has seven performing batsmen with six consistent bowlers, who are a force hard to overcome.

PLAYERS TO LOOK OUT FOR

OPENERS DILSHAN AND GAYLE: In the last match, Dilshan was unlucky to get run out else his blistering cameo of 76 off 53 balls would have touched an even higher mark. Having an average of 30.35 in T20 internationals, this latest knock of his is just an indication of the knocks that might unfold in the upcoming matches. His counterpart Gayle has been giving West Indies a flying start in every match. Batting average of 37.78 in T20 internationals makes him the centre of attraction whenever he takes the crease and a potential nightmare for every opponent. Both the teams owe a lot to these IPL mates, who shared a dressing room and led RCB to many victories.

ROOKIES DANANJAYA AND BADREE: Dananjay and Badree are just one and three T20 internationals old respectively. Both the colts played in the last games and left a positive impression with their ability to rise to the challenge of the World Cup. Off spinner Dananjaya took two for 33 runs and leg spinner Badree, though could not extract any wicket, did a fabulous job in containing the flow of the runs as he ended with the economy of 5.00, which no other bowler could manage. These two lesser known but talented players will be the ones to watch out for.

SKIPPERS JAYAWARDENE AND SAMMY: The two skippers are as apart as chalk and cheese. The Lankan is a full time top order batsman while the West Indian is an ordinary all-rounder who comes to bat at number six. Jayawardene is an accomplished batsman and contributes big in his calm style which serves well as an example for rest of the team to follow. His average of 29.77 in this format of the game tells a story which Sammy’s average fails to convey. Instead, Darren Sammy has been a more successful medium pacer who holds an economy of 6.61 in T20 internationals but so far has not contributed significantly. Jayawardene led from the front in the last game and it’s time that Sammy rises to the challenge and impresses.