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Kohli eyeing maiden series win

COLOMBO: India will fancy their chances of a series win in Sri Lanka after 22 years when the third and decisive Test begins at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) here on Friday. The Virat Kohli-led India slumped to a 63-run loss in the first Test at Galle despite dominating much of the match, but shook off the disappointment by thumping the hosts in the second Test.

Kohli eyeing maiden series win

Virat Kohli will be all pumped up to secure a series win in Lanka after over two decades. AFP



Colombo, August 27

India will fancy their chances of a series win in Sri Lanka after 22 years when the third and decisive Test begins at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) here on Friday. The Virat Kohli-led India slumped to a 63-run loss in the first Test at Galle despite dominating much of the match, but shook off the disappointment by thumping the hosts in the second Test. 

India are eyeing their first Test series win in the island nation since 1993. But their ambitions may hit a roadblock due to injuries to key players. India’s batting will be considerably handicapped without the injured trio of regular openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. But their loss can be Cheteshwar Pujara’s gain as he is almost certain to open with KL Rahul. Uncapped Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who was added to the squad with young Karnataka batsman Karun Nair, is likely to step in for Bengal glovesman Saha.

India can draw comfort from the fact that their opponents will also be affected by crucial absentations. Sri Lanka will enter a new era in their cricketing history following the retirement of Kumar Sangakkara and the team’s primary task will be to fill the void created in the top order by the legendary left-hander’s departure. They are yet to come to terms with the departure of Mahela Jayawardene, another batting giant who called it quits earlier this year. Without these two heavyweights, Sri Lanka are visibly short on experience, particularly in Tests.

Skipper Angelo Mathews would have to handle the increased responsibility of guiding the team in both the departments. He will look to veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, the hero of the first match, to provide him support. Sri Lanka will be nursing the pain of not giving Sangakkara a winning farewell and Mathews has vowed to fight back and win the series for him. They are expected to replace Sangakkara with another left-hander, Upul Tharanga, who has had a decent start to his Test career with 1,113 runs in 20 Tests.

India will hope their flourishing spin combination of offie Ravichandran Ashwin and leggie Amit Mishra will again do the job for them.

Mathews conceded Sri Lankan batsmen are yet to find a way to tackle Ashwin, who has been their wrecker-in-chief with 17 wickets in the two Tests. But the home team will draw confidence from its strong record at the ground, having won 18 and lost just six of the 38 Tests played. They are yet face defeat in 11 years at this venue.

India’s record is contrastingly poor, having lost two and drawn three of their last five matches at the venue. Their lone win here came way back in 1993, which secured them their last series success in Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Mohammad Azharuddin. — IANS 

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