Daijiworld Media Network

Hobart, Feb 28 : It has been a long and hard trip down under. India came in with high expectations in mid December and a couple of months down the lane face the ignominy of utter humiliation. They were whitewashed in the Tests, managed a face saving tie in the T20 matches that followed and are now on the verge of getting knocked out from the CB series before the finals. It has not helped that the team has been beseiged with problems, both injury related and ego hassles. Dhoni has to fight not just the demons outside but those plaguing within. They are up against a team that has peaked just about the right time. Hello, and a warm welcome to one and all to Match 11 of the CB series. We are at the beautiful Blundstone Arena in Hobart.

The equation for India is pretty simple. Win with a bonus point else pack your bags back home. If India do manage to win with a bonus point, they must then hope that Australia beat Sri Lanka at the MCG on Friday. That will leave both India and Sri Lanka with 15 points each but India will scrape through on the basis of head to head count.

The weather is pretty pleasant at Hobart though some showers are predicted later on. However, Ian Chappell reckons that it will not play spoilsport.

Teams:

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Mahela Jayawardene(c), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera, Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath

India (Playing XI): Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav

India have won the toss and elected to field

Pitch Report: There are a few dark clouds around. The pitch looks like a belter. There is some grass on the wicket but that is dead grass. The team winning the toss should elect to bat first. The experts reckon that India must go into the match with a positive frame of mind.

Mahela: We just need to concentrate on our game. I have just told the boys to continue with the same. We need to do all the basics right. My attitude and mindset was great the other day and it needs to be continued. We are playing the same team that beat Australia in the last match.

Dhoni: We will bowl first. We need to win with a bonus point and it will be easy to assess the situation. We would have batted had we not needed a bonus point. We have been in such situations in the past, the belief is there and we need to go out and express ourselves. Irfan is injured and has been replaced by Zaheer Khan.