India will target Sri Lanka's in-form opener Sanath Jayasuriya when they bid to overcome a wretched recent record in tournament finals and lift the Asia Cup on Sunday.
India have won only one of their last 18 one-day finals and skipper Saurav Ganguly believes dismissing Jayasuriya will be the key to bucking the trend.
The 35-year-old has bounced back to form with back-to-back hundreds against Bangladesh and India to make him the tournament's second highest run scorer with 278 runs.
"Jayasuriya scores runs against us, but if we get him out, their run rate is usually not as good," Ganguly said on Saturday.
"In the last game, he survived a close lbw appeal against Zaheer (Khan) and then I also made the mistake of taking the slips out early."
Ganguly is confident that his team, who defeated Sri Lanka by four runs on Tuesday to book their final slot, can peak at the right time. He said: "Sri Lanka are hard to beat at home, but we won the last game and we've also won here before."
The dryness of the pitch will determine whether India opt for three seamers or retain specialist spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
Sri Lanka skipper Marvan Atapattu said: "The way that we have been playing since the Australia tour is great and I see a difference in approach and a special keenness from the players."
His side will be at full-strength after the return of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan.
WISDEN CRICINFO ADDS: Marvan Atapattu has said that he expects the final to be a fiercely contested affair. While maintaining that the toss could be a crucial factor, Atapattu also felt minimising errors would be the key to the contest.
"There are two good sides playing well at the moment," Atapattu was quoted as saying in the Daily News. "I expect the final to be a close contest. The team that makes the lesser number of mistakes will win."
Meanwhile Sanath Jayasuriya was keen to make amends for his reckless shot at a crucial juncture during Tuesday's four-run loss to India. "It is disappointing that I couldn't finish off the game against India," Jayasuriya told Deccan Herald. "I don't want to get a hundred and Sri Lanka to lose the match. This is the first time it has happened when I have got a hundred and Sri Lanka have lost [while chasing].
"It was very disappointing. I'm not worried about getting a hundred; I'm not that kind of a person who goes after hundreds but I would have been happy had we won."
Jayasuriya also felt that Sri Lanka still held the psychological edge, since they made a fist of the chase after being in a precarious situation. "We had lost the match halfway through and then we came back so strongly and almost won it. We also didn't play [Chaminda] Vaas and Murali. I think we have the advantage."
Sourav Ganguly has dismissed notions of India choking in finals and believes their performances in the last few years justify the claim. Under Ganguly, India have reached 12 finals and finished as outright winners just once. On two of those occasions, they were joint champions.
Pointing to a few bi-lateral series, which went into the deciding game, Ganguly told PTI that his team's record wasn't as bad as it was made out to be. "We won in West Indies when we were 1-1. We then beat Pakistan when we were 2-2. These were as good as finals. Then of course there was the NatWest title [when India beat England at Lord's]."
In three out of the last four one-day tournaments, involving more than two countries, India were thwarted by the mighty Australians in the final stage. "We have lost to them [Australia] because they are such a good side. They lift themselves in the big match and we must similarly try to do on Sunday."
Sri Lanka nearly pulled off a fantastic victory in the previous game, despite the absence of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan. "They would be boosted by Vaas and Murali," Said Ganguly, but quickly added, "it isn't as if we would be playing them for the first time, we know how to tackle them."
Teams (from):
Sri Lanka: Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Avishka Gunawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Saman Jayantha, Nuwan Zoysa, Thilina Kandamby
India: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Parthiv Patel, Lakshmipathy Balaji.
Comments
Comments are closed.