India v Sri Lanka ODI Series........Same Old Story

By Bigjoe

Starts Tuesday 15th December 03.30 GMT

The Test series saw a comfortable 2-0 Indian victory. The spoils were shared in the two Twenty20 games and now we come to this ODI series.

In this format India have dominated Sri Lanka home and away since 2005 and I believe that same old story will unfold in this series. India embarrassed Sri Lanka 6-1 in a home series in 2005 and again 4-1 in Sri Lanka in 2008. Since those series the Sri Lankans have slipped down the ODI rankings, whilst the Indians have continued their upward surge.

Tue Dec 15	1st ODI - Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot
Fri Dec 18	2nd ODI - Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur
Mon Dec 21	3rd ODI - Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
Thu Dec 24	4th ODI - Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Sun Dec 27	5th ODI - Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

India did suffer a setback with their home series defeat against Australia, but they have proved in the last few years that they have the measure of Sri Lanka and I fully expect them to bounce back in style in this series.
Sri Lanka’s biggest problem recently has been that with the retirement of Chaminder Vaas and the effectiveness of Muralidharan waning with each series, their bowling has been weakened significantly. Their batting is still potentially strong, however there is still a tendency to rely too much on Sangakarra and Jayawardne.

India’s strength remains their star studded batting lineup.  Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Dhoni all in great nick and there are no places to hide for the Sri Lankan bowling. This batting lineup has demonstrated their ability to post or chase big totals with consummate ease in recent years and I think it will be the same old story again this time.

Sri Lanka in India ODI Series	1982/83		India	3-0
Sri Lanka in India ODI Series	1986/87		India	4-1
Sri Lanka in India ODI Series	1990/91		India	2-1
Sri Lanka in India ODI Series	1993/94		India	2-1
Sri Lanka in India ODI Series	1997/98		drawn	1-1
Sri Lanka in India ODI Series	2005/06		India	6-1
Sri Lanka in India ODI Series	2006/07		India	2-1

The Twenty20 games did however highlight a potential Indian weakness in regard to bowling and especially the fielding. But for this ODI series that bowling will be back to full strength with the return of Harbajhan, Zaheer and Praveen Kumar. The fielding could still be a problem, but the return of these key bowlers should mean a dramatic improvement in the bowling department.

Overall I feel that this series will further confirm Indian dominance over Sri Lanka in this format. Their batting lineup is just too strong, too much in form and too deep for them to have many bad hair days in this series. Sri Lanka have managed to win the odd game against India and I think once again they will do well to win more than one game in this series.

My suggested bets for this series therefore are:

In The Series Correct Score Market:

BACK India to win 4-1 for 3 points @ 4.5 at William Hill

BACK India to win 5-0 for 2 points @ 13.0 at William Hill .

Join me and let’s witness the same old story

Bigjoe