Preview: India need to outplay Lanka by handy margin

Image: Harbhajan Singh will play a key role on a spin-friendly wicket

Defending champions Pakistan managed to sneak into the semi-finals through the back door. What a story it would make if the inaugurally crowned India can do the same. To do that, India have to beat Sri Lanka by a margin of at least 20 runs and hope Australia beat the West Indies. Neither parts of this permutation are too outrageous, although Sri Lanka's task is a little easier. They simply have to beat India, or even lose by less than 20 runs, and then rely on the Aussies to do them a favour.

Both teams will be relieved to be playing this crunch match on a less hostile surface than the one they struggled on in Barbados. As we saw in the match between South Africa and Pakistan, spin is likely to be a factor. Sri Lanka will want young Suraj Randiv to perform as he did against Australia, where he was the best bowler for the team. Together with Ajantha Mendis, he is sure to weave a web around the Indian batsmen.

India have thus far played Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja as their specialist spinners, although Yusuf Pathan has been around to turn his arm a little. If Jadeja plays again today, it will reflect on the unwarranted generosity of the management. After two terrible bowling performances in consecutive matches, he should be dumped. That will open the door for either Piyush Chawla or Vinay Kumar to come into the attack. Given that Vinay Kumar was overlooked on the bouncier wickets, Chawla is the more likely of the two to come in.

Text: Cricbuzz

Images: AP