Kolkata: With a 4-0 lead in the kitty, the Indian team can be mighty pleased of their performance so far in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka but wouldn’t want to cut down on the energy and commitment when they battle the hosts in the fifth and the final ODI to be held in Colombo on Sunday.
The Indian team has been thoroughly dominant in the tour so far. They destroyed Sri Lanka in the tests, piling up one dominant victory over the other and things have continued in the same manner in the ODI series as well. Barring three or four good individual performances, the hosts just couldn’t find out that winning formula in all the seven games against India in the tour so far. The closest they came to a win was in the second ODI of the series where Akila Dananjaya’s mystery spin almost, fetched Sri Lanka a famous win. But the experience of Dhoni and stability provided by Bhuvneshwar Kumar was enough to deny them a victory.
Their performance clearly reflects the inexperience of the team and thus, they have looked all at sea in the contest against India so far. On the flip side of the tale, Virat Kohli and his men have been on a rampage as they have manhandled the Sri Lankans, be it with the bat or the ball. They have experimented with the team and the entire team looks to be in solid touch at the moment. Adding to these, the biggest positive for them is the form of former skipper MS Dhoni, which has been terrific so far. In the last three matches, the talismanic right-hander has proved his mettle with the bat and despite not hitting those big ones regularly, the Jharkhand man might has endured a place for himself in the 2019 World Cup.
For the visitors, Shikhar Dhawan would be unavailable to play the final game as he would fly to India to tend to his ailing mother. But the solid bench strength that the Indians have wouldn’t allow this to be an opportunity for the Sri Lankans to capitalise upon. Ajinkya Rahane might replace the left-hander. The middle order performed far better in the last match as Manish Pandey, playing his first match of the series notched up a fifty and was ably supported by Dhoni, who too played a solid 49-run unbeaten knock.
Skipper Kohli might experiment with the bowling unit as he might play all three spinners-Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav who have been in good form. They would undoubtedly want to finish off in style and register their first ODI whitewash in Sri Lanka.
But Sri Lanka, who have lost the chance to automatically qualify for the 2019 World Cup courtesy their heavy loss in the last ODI would play for pride and would want to give their unhappy fans one reason to celebrate.