India vs Sri Lanka: What the stats say..

Mumbai, April 2: Before you settle back to watch the hotly-anticipated final of the World Cup 2011 between India and Sri Lanka, here's a gander at the statistics between these two sides:
Head-to-head record: India lead 67-50 (NR: 11)

In the World Cups: Sri Lanka lead 4-2

In the sub-continent: India lead 59-46 (NR: 9)

Results in the last 5 ODIs between India and Sri Lanka

22 Jun 2010 (Dambulla): Sri Lanka won by seven wickets

24 Jun 2010 (Dambulla): India won by 81 runs

16 Aug 2010 (Dambulla): India won by six wickets

22 Aug 2010 (Dambulla): Sri Lanka won by eight wickets

28 Aug 2010 (Dambulla): Sri Lanka won by 74 runs *

At the Wankhede, they are tied at 1-1. India won the first encounter by 10 runs in 1987. In 1997 Sri Lanka beat India by five wickets

- The top order of both the teams dominate the run scoring charts. Sri Lanka have their top three batsmen in the Top 5 run scorers of this World Cup, with Tillakaratne Dilshan (467 runs) leading the tally. Kumar Sangakkara (417 runs) and Upul Tharanga (393 runs) at numbers four and five respectively.

- For India, Sachin Tendulkar is once close to being the leading run scorer as he is three runs behind Dilshan (464 runs). India have two more batsmen in the Top 10, with Virender Sehwag (380 runs) and Yuvraj Singh (341 runs) at numbers six and eight respectively.

- India have two more batsmen, Gautam Gambhir (296 runs) and Virat Kohli (247 runs) at numbers 15 and 20 respectively, they have no other batsmen in the Top 30.

- India will need to take wickets as the Sri Lankan top order have stunning averages — Sangakkara topping the league with 104.25, and Dilshan (66.71) and Tharanga (65.50) not doing badly either.

- Sri Lanka will have to curb the run flow at the top of the batting order with Sehwag scoring at a strike rate of 123.37.

- On the bowling front, Zaheer Khan (19 wickets) and Yuvraj Singh (13 wickets) have led the way for India. Muttiah Muralitharan (15 wickets) and Lasith Malinga (11 wickets) have provided Sri Lanka the breakthroughs when they needed it. Dilshan (seven wickets at an average of 14.14) has bowled very well in the last few matches.

- Where Sri Lanka seem to have a distinctive edge is in thge economy of their bowling figures. Ajantha Mendis at 3.14 RPO, Dilshan at 3.80, Muralitharan at 4.00, Rangana Herath at 4.27. Harbhajan Singh with an economy of 4.41, heads the list for India but is at a lowly 36th ranked place.

- More teams batting first (11-6) have emerged victorious at the Wankhede.

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India face wily Sri Lanka in World Cup title clash

Saturday, April 2, 2011, 11:39 [IST]Mumbai, April 2: There's a feeling at the back of every Indian fan's mind that it's now or never: India is on the threshold of world domination with just one formidable opponent standing in its way. When
India take on Sri Lankan in the final of the World Cup 2011 at Wankehde Stadium, Mumbai on April 2, the summit clash will mark the culmination of a glowing tournament replete with twists and upsets and dramatic wins and even a tie!
And there would be no perceptably better way for India to wrap up this World Cup than grabbing the coveted trophy with both hands. India's chances are good. They are riding the crest of a wonderful peak in form and they are playing in their backyard with their premeir batsmen in devastating knick. India have shown exceptional verve at overcoming Australia and Pakistan in its road to the final and now have the impteus to pull off one final win.

But one has to recognise that Sri Lanka are far from push-overs and with the inordinate strength of their top-order batting, may just pull off a sensational victory. They have shown that their permier batsmen present a tough obstacle for even the most favoured teams to surmount, a fact driven home in the 10-wicket thrashing they consigned to England in the quarterfinal of the tournament.

Sri Lanka has played four one-dayers at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium, including a league match in this tournament against New Zealand. Out of  those four, they have won two and lost two. So there chances of overpowering India here are 50-50.

But Sri Lanka hold a slight edge over India insofar as their batting is concerned. The Lankans' top four batsmen in their line up are collectively averaging around 233 (Tharanga's avg: 65.50 + Dilshan's
avg: 66.42 + Sangakkara's avg: 76.50 + Jayawardene's avg: 25.00), while for India the top quartet jointly notches up an approximate 156 (Tendulkar's avg: 47.12 + Sehwag's avg: 41.42 + Gambhir's avg: 37.00 + Kohli's 30.85).

But then the real juice for India comes in the middle order with Yuvraj averaging a phenomenal 85.25, while Sri Lanka's corresponding section  has to still prove their mettle, especially now with Angelo Mathews out of the equation with a muscle strain.

However, India have the upperhand where the bowling figures. Indian spearhead Zaheer Khan is in the form of his life, having taken 19 wickets at a miserly average of 17.57, while Yuvraj has clocked second
with 13 scalps at 25.23 and Munaf comes in a close third with 11 wickets at 26.72.

Muralitharan is the corresponding ace in the Sri Lanka pack with 15 wickets in the tournament so far at an average which trumps Zaheer's at 16..89. But he hasn't received much support from rest of the Lankan attack with just a couple of indfivisual performances from Malinga and Dilshan standing out.

So the die is cast for what promises to be a fantastic game of cricket and one that is closely contested. The World Cup hangs in the balance as each of the finalists strive to realise their dream of capturing the
accompanying glory.

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Warning "Bell" for Sri Lanka

Monday, March 21, 2011, 12:40 [IST]Chennai, Mar 21: England batsman Ian Bell is confident that his team can beat Sri Lanka in their own backyard in Saturday's World Cup quarterfinal at Colombo's R.Premadasa Stadium.
Bell said that they will draw on the memory of their one-day series win the last time they played in Sri Lanka in 2007. "We're excited to be going to Sri Lanka. That's the place we wanted to go because we had success on our last one-day tour there three winters ago and won 3-2," the Sun quoted Bell, as saying.

"But it will be tough. Sri Lanka are as good as any team in the world at the moment," he added.

Bell further said that despite the team's long season so far, they are ready to give everything in the final three games of the six-week tournament.

"You saw against the West Indies how desperate we are to win and that is a really good sign regardless of what has happened in the past few months. It's not what has gone that matters, it is what is to come that we focus on, though there is no point looking too far ahead," Bell said.

"We have three games to win it so that looks quite nice, but we don't need to look beyond Sri Lanka. If we put in a good performance there we will take a lot of confidence from it," he added.

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