Indisposed Sreesanth may miss first T20 against Lanka

S S Ramaswamy

Nagpur, Dec 8 (PTI) India were dealt with a big blow
ahead of the first Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka
with in-form speedster S Sreesanth rendered a doubtful starter
for Wednesday's encounter which promises to be a high-scoring
affair.

Sreesanth skipped the practice session today because
of diarrhea and it appears that the temperamental Kerala pacer
will have to wait for some more time before returning to the
T20 arena.
"He is not well. We are hoping he will get well before
the game," India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.
"I don't know the exact scene right now. The physio
(Nitin Patel) told me he was not well, may be diarrhea or
something," he said.
Sreesanth's unavaibility could mean a debut for either
Bengal paceman Ashok Dinda or fellow Uttar Pradesh pacer
Sudeep Tyagi though the team management has given no
indication regarding the composition of the team.
Having crowned themselves the number one team in Test
rankings, India would look to assert their supremacy in the
shortest format as well when they go into the first game.
India have made a few changes in their squad, resting
pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and
calling up youngsters Dinda and R Ashwin.

With Test specialists Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman not
considered any more for the limited-over clashes, Suresh
Raina, Yusuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma would shore up the
middle-order along with Yuvraj Singh and captain Mahendra
Singh Dhoni.
Starting with Virender Sehwag, India have such an array
of stroke-players who can simply whip the bowlers around and
cart them for sixes and fours with ease and the batting gives
the hosts a clear edge.
Dhoni is a trifle worried about how his bowlers will
shift to the T20 mode after playing the three-match Test
series.
"Though the bowlers need to roll their arm for only
four overs, an enormous effort is involved to do so in the T20
format as the batsmen would go after them from ball one,
especially on Indian pitches, he said.
"Considering we are playing in India, it would be a bit
different for the bowlers, as the batsmen would go after them
from the very first ball. It looks to be a small game, just
four overs, but the amount of effort that's needed, that's
what it is all about", he explained.
The Lanka bowlers would need to come out with something
innovative to restrict the hosts' batting line-up and put a
stop to their losing streak on the tour.
The tourists have brought in right-arm sling-action
bowler Lasith Malinga, who missed the Test series because of
an injury, to strengthen their pace bowling attack which was
exposed thoroughly in the Test series.
(Eds pick up suitably from SPORT SL series). PTI SSR