The real test for India against Sri Lanka

The win against Bermuda in India vs. Bermuda match, will definitely boost the confidence level of Indian Cricket team. it will apply some antacid for the wound that Bangladesh made for India. Definitely the game of Bermuda was of lot more entertainment than any other game that this world cup saw. It had a huge number of sixes in the innings and some awesome fielding performance by Bermuda provided the excitement.

The first catch by Dwayne Leverock of Robin Uthappa, sent a chill to Indian fans, and they started to think about the collapse of Indian team against Bangladesh. But Sehwag and Ganguly built a superb partnership and recovered from the initial loss of wicket. the 257 runs win against Bermuda will be the moral booster for all players especially for Sehwag who was in tremendous pressure to perform.

Scoring a 400 against any team will be a impressive display of skills but scoring those runs against minnows of cricket makes the runs less impressive. The next match for India is against Sri Lanka on Friday which can be considered as a real test for India. It will be a Must win match for India with a huge total/ wickets difference. If India makes another huge runs victory there is no problem for India to enter into super eights. Otherwise there is a huge opportunity for Bangladesh to make into super eight which will face Bermuda on 25th march.

The match against Sri Lanka will be a very fascinating match for India and will be a thriller for Indian fans. When these two South Asian giants clashes, there will be a nice display of cricketing skills in all quarters. There will be a extraordinary display of Batting, bowling and fielding performance from both sides. If any quarter fails to deliver then the match will move towards opponents.

When you look at both sides, India has a deep batting line up and Sri Lanka has a bowling which can penetrate any batting lineup in the world. Don't get surprised to see Robin Uthappa in pavilion and Dinesh Kaarthick in elevens. For Sehwag the first centurion from India in cricket world cup 2007 must prove against Sri lanka to show his confidence which he got from Bermuda. He might open the game alone with Ganguly who is in tremendous form this season. Ganguly proved is worth for the team and closed all the critics from all corners with his impressive display of 66 against Bangladesh and 89 against Bermuda. Everyone is confident on Ganguly's performance who can help India in making big runs.

In the previous game Dravid came on 5th down and Tendulkar on 4th down which can see some change in batting order to strengthen the middle order of India. If you see Sri Lanka Jayasuriya is the most promising player from that side for a long time. His experience with the bat makes Sri lanka's top line as one of the threatening openers in the world. When we go down the order the middle order is been strengthened by Jayawardane and others who can bat and rotate the balls well.

When we see the bowling of Sri Lanka, it is been strengthen by Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga and middle overs by Murali. These three share most of the overs in the limited over match. Precision and the variable length balls are the strength of Vaas who is the back bone of Sri lanka's bowling attack. India has Zaheer khan and Munaf Patel who can threaten the batting line up of Sri Lanka to some extent. A good first spell with early wickets of Sri Lanka will provide little pressure to Lankan from which Indian spinners and part time bowlers can take the game into Indian's control.

As everyone knows cricket is an unpredictable game which oscillates on both sides, who is going to be mentally tough? On a neutral ground which is outside India and Sri Lanka india gets an tiny edge over Sri lanka with its performance. But again it depends on a number of factors. But this world cup for India it is a match which needs to be won and India is in little pressure. However Sri Lanka doesn't have that pressure and can play cool since they can make into super eight even if they loose the game. Let's look forward towards the next game which will be the first real encounter of World cup 2007 for India and also for Sehwag.