The middle order looks formiddable, but its the bowling which may turn out to be achille's heel. With Munaf in the side and only one quality fielder in Kartik, feilding is bound to hurt us.
Still, lets hope for the best.

It's gonna be a run fest from both sides. but i trust sri lanka have the edge because of their superb fielding performances. attack harbajan and and another bowler. then india will be in trouble because of their 7 batters and 4 bowlers policy. sri lanka have implemented the same policy which i believe is crap. but they have sanath,dilshan and arnold to fill in with some overs.

Even if they do, the selectors will be hesitant to pick them for the big event simply because the world cup is too big a stage for a youngster. You get an Inzy-like player only once in decades who come in and make an impact immediately.

The Indian team should concentrate in restricting EXTRAS and do a good fighting and dedicated show in fielding performance. Thereby they can increase their chance of winning. Then it will be all attributable to the batsman to lead the team to WIN.

However, the best team of the day will win. I wish both teams all the best.

With the best SL bowlers not playing, batsmen like Uthappa cannot really test their strengths and competence. Selectors for the World Cup do need to keep this in mind.

talking about no of batsman in Indian team, a quick glance will tell you that all of the batsman India is playing have opened for internationals some part of the career or another, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Uthappa, Karthik (Test in SA), Dravid and I guess even Dhoni was given a shot at opening in a game or two, not sure though, so seems like a whole team of openers ... guess why leave the remaining 4 ... harbhajan n seesanth opening up ...

I do believe that the experience will count at least for some degree in the tournament. However, luckily both teams still have quite experienced players in their sides. Also, though they do not have 4 (if you also include Anil Kumble who doesn't play the 1st game) most experienced bowlers, India can benefit from the home advantage and from the dew factor later tonight, while Sri Lanka can still depend on their experienced part-time bowlers like Sanath, Dilshan and Arnol in the absence of Vass and Murali. Therefore, at the end whatever the negative that not having an experienced bowlers would have should balance out by other factors (especially when you have players like Sachin, Doni, Dravid, Sanath, Kumar and Mahela, you should able to put/chase down a big total that your inexperienced bowlers should be able to control).

Everybody waiting for their chance to come. If you get a chance for playing the game then prove your worth under pressure. A performer under pressure will be always a good player. If you perform well against Bermuda, then it is not considered as a good performance under pressure.

hopefully its not a replay of the '96 semifinal....!!!

Guys, i think the decision taken by Dravid to field first is a good decision. From past few games, we have batting first and so this time it will give our batsman some invaluable expierience chasing a huge target today.

It's a big stupidity of R Dravid, I assume he gave dew factor, remember! Harbi nor a Warnie nor Murali do the magic in subcontinental pitches!

Indian bowlers should be extremely careful with their line and length as the SriLankans are quick in capitalising on bowlers errors!

Let's just hope that the batting clicks because even the most optimistic indian knows that this bowling line up will allow Sri Lanka to provide us with a formidable target to chase

I am strong believer of experience especially in big matches. Do all experiments before world cup but go in the world cup with most experience team. Look at pakistan, after all experiments in last four years, they are going back to their old team and that is best for the time being. I would say dont replace your senior players until you get real replacement.

Regards

Kashif zia

Our system hardly allows for inexperience to count. With so many 'so-called' great talents available in the country, players hardly get one or two matches to display their wares. Can we ever imagine replicating Atapattu's seven successive ducks and continue to play for his country? Our domestic system needs to be revamped so that only the creme-de-la-creme gets to the lot that is even considered for national colours. Today even a youngster like Tiwari gets a mention because he played six decent matches! Is that fair to chaps who have done so consistently - say like Mozumdar?

Its very unfair to expect flashy performances from the fairly new blokes when the given condition for cricket seems to favour one partcular side. You do not want your cricket team to be out there in their homeland playing a day night match when dew is such a prominent factor. You are lessening your chances. Try and give them as much ideal conditions as you can which is conducive for cricket. Thank you.

chappel was making dream team for world cup with so many batsman gatherd on dressing room. but what happened now. India is playing four openers in the team. they have not a single middle order specialist batsman in the team except dravid. its shameful for chappel to have a wicketkeeper is playing as specialist batsman. where are your kaif's. mongia's,raina's mr. coach?

"Mental makeup" at this point of time is very essential and a series win against Lanka is the foundation for it. India should use their 15 "almost certain" guys for these games rather than experimenting too much.

Cosidering this is last series before the final front, India has given chances to all probables. Only player ignored is Kaif. I think he should also be given chance to perform, specially considering that he performed well in West Indies in last series. GET BACK KAIF...

Can you really call it inexperience with the likes of Dravi, Tendulkar, Sarouv, and Sewag playing? The same goes for Sri Lanka with Sanath, Marvan, Mahela (An out of form Mahela) Sangakkara etc. The replacements for Vaas and Murrali are Nuwan Zoysa who has plenty of experience and an extra batsmen. In my minf Farvees should not be in the team. He is very inconsistant.

I think this is a very crutual series for both India and Sri Lanka before the worl cup. Both teams will try to get confidence with victory. At the time India has an edge as they have got two early wickets but still Jaysuria is there so don't worry S.L, they has chance to made a good fighting total. India needs a good start.

These two are the key wickets. if dangerous jayasirya and reliable Sangakara manage to tie a partnership, the game will quicky slip away from the Indians. Sreeshant has to quicky get out of the test match bowling mode and get used to one day mould. He is proving to be expensive. He was expensive against the Windies, and even ehere, the story seems similar.

I have a feeling Sri Lanka will post a big score today only for their bowling to let them down. India to win! We need Sehwag to get some runs ASAP because I strongly believe we can't win the World Cup without him. *thinks back to 2003*

Inclusion of Manoj Tiwari as 12th man is a BIG JOKE... is Kaif is so bad that he can not be included as 12th man...