Spinners’ magic will be at display at Kotla pitch, says Dhoni
December 26th, 2009 - 10:04 pm ICT by ANI ( Leave a comment )
New Delhi, Dec.26 (ANI): Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has expressed hope to wrap up the series with another win in the fifth one-day international match against Sri Lanka on Sunday, as the spinners will be in action at the national capital’s Ferozeshah Kotla ground.
While addressing a news conference here Dhoni said that the spinners would come into action in the final ODI.
“It’s a day game. The scenario will be different. We will now have to see how the wickets will behave. It’s a very different track. The wicket would be different from the normal wicket of Kotla. It will be difficult to judge right now what would be the score, but definitely spinners will come into action,” said Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian Skipper.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara has blamed the absence of some senior bowlers from the team for their defeat in the 4th ODI on Thursday (Dec. 24) in Kolkata.
The team suffered a seven-wicket defeat against India.
“There hasn’t been a huge contrast in performance. Both sides’ batting has been dominant. The bowling has been patchy at times. Unfortunately for us, we are playing without the best bowling attack, not even close to be our best bowling attack. But the Indians are playing at their full strength when it comes to bowling. So it would have been great to have our experienced bowlers back on our side,” said Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lankan captain.
The Sri Lankan team has been struck by injuries to its players.
India registered a splendid win in a thrilling chase of in opening game at Rajkot by three runs and took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Sri Lanka retaliated by winning the second match at Nagpur by three wickets. India, however, resumed the upper hand when it won the third and fourth ODIs against Sri Lanka and took a lead of 3-1.
India beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the fourth ODI at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday (December 24) with a target of 316 runs and Delhi’s Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir made the mammoth total an easy target with an awe-inspiring partnership.
Sri Lanka has already lost the three-test match series to India 2-0. The two-game Twenty20 series was drawn 1-1. (ANI)
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