Friday, February 12, 2016

Fantastico Battles that could Impact the 2nd T20I between Ind and SL

India are 0-1 down in the three match T20 series and they will be looking to win this match and level the series but they will be up against a confident and charged up Sri Lankan team who played brilliant cricket at Pune. The match will certainly have lots of sub-plots which will be fascinating to watch and which will decide its outcome.

Let us look at 3 Fantastico Battles that can make a huge Impact on the outcome of the 2nd T20I:

Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane Vs Kasun Rajitha

Kasun Rajitha made his debut in the last match at Pune and on a greenish track which provided a little assistance to the bowlers he moved the ball appreciably to dislodge Rohit Sharma, who had returned after having a stellar series down under and Ajinkya Rahane, probably the best Indian batsman at the moment, in the same over. He would also scalp Shikhar Dhawan and Raina was dropped off his bowling else he would have had still better figures than 4-0-29-3! Rohit and Rahane are experienced batsmen and they will be itching to not let the youngster succeed against them two times in a row! Kasun, for his part will be eager to continue the good show and prove that the dream debut was not a one off performance.

Dushmantha Chameera Vs Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh

Chameera impressed one and everyone who saw him bowl in New Zealand, the lanky pacer from Sri Lanka often breaching the 150 kph mark and troubling even the Kiwi batsmen who are born and bred on far tracks. Chameera bowled a scorching bouncer to greet Raina and then hit Yuvraj on the back of his head before getting him out the very next ball with another quick short delivery. Chameera knows the weakness of these batsmen against the rising ball and the impact that an accurate short ball can have on them. He'll be eager to test the Indian batsmen again but it remains to be seen how effective he will be on a dry Ranchi wicket. Raina and Yuvraj will also be wary of the menace that Chameera possesses but how they negate that threat will be enthralling to watch.

R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja Vs The Lankan Middle Order

Ashwin and Jadeja had neither the luxury of runs on the board nor a supporting pitch in Pune but they still bowled well and Chandimal and Kapugedara found the duo difficult to negotiate. Ashwin especially bowled a lovely line and length often teasing the batsmen with flight and deceiving them with his variations. The Ranchi track will certainly assist the spinners and how the Lankan middle order plays the two slow bowlers will certainly have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. Milinda Siriwardena looked the best batsmen out of everyone who faced up to the spinners and a lot of onus will be on him to ensure that the Lankans finish well.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

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