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COLOMBO: The Indians have covered the most treacherous part of their Sri Lankan campaign fairly easily. Now the final hurdle - a T20 International - remains. At the outset, here too India look overwhelming favourites as they are the world champions of that format. But such is the nature of the game - where fortune changes hands in every over - that pre-match predictions are usually an exercise in futility.
Still there are too many interesting sidelights in the build-up to this game.It is the first T20 International between the two teams and Lanka have more experience than India in this format. While the Lankans have played 12 matches, the India have featured in 10. The Lankan success rate (66.66%) is also better than their famed rivals��� percentage of 60.
The surprises don���t end there. MS Dhoni can be excused if he sports a confused look at the start. Because not only do the Lankans have a new captain - T Dilshan - but it will be a relatively new-look team that will troop out at the Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday night. Only six players from the ODI team retain their places in the T20 squad.
The attraction is Lasith Malinga, the slingshot speedster, who is making a comeback to international cricket after an injury layoff. Dilshan will be banking upon the experience of Sanath Jayasuriya in the absence of senior pros Mahela Jayawardene and Kumara Sangakkara, who have been rested.
The Indians have no such worries. Dhoni has an assembly line of proven T20 performers to choose from. The batting lineup will be more or less quite similar to that which duty in the fifth ODI. While the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh will be keen to extend their ODI form into the shortest version of the game, it will be another opportunity for Rohit Sharma, who had a lacklusture ODI series.
Ravindra Jadeja, who impressed with his batsmanship on his ODI debut, might make his T20 debut too as he is multi-utility cricketer.
With the Indian Premier League just two months away, most players will be keen to add a few brownie points and underline their utility to their respective franchises. Another incentive is the 2nd T20 World Cup to be staged in England, four months later. Thus, Tuesday���s encounter holds lot of significance as only three T20 games are part of every international team���s annual calendar.