Sri Lanka suffered a heavy blow on the eve of the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup against India when all-rounder Angelo Mathews was ruled out of the game with a right thigh strain.Mathews has been a crucial member of the Sri Lankan ODI outfit ever since making his debut two years ago and the team management were waiting with their fingers crossed hoping he would recover, but the 24-year-old was ruled out of the game and a request to draft in off-spinner Suraj Randiv was approved by the ICC Event Technical Committee.
Randiv was flown to Mumbai on Thursday along with Chaminda Vaas and he was brought into the squad ahead of the left-arm seamer. Mathews strained a thigh muscle while fielding during Sri Lanka’s semi-final clash against New Zealand in Colombo and although he battedwith the assistance of a runner, he failed to recover in time for the final.
Today’s game at Wankhede Stadium here in Bombay will be both teams’ third appearance in ICC World Cup finals. While India qualified for the 1983 and 2003 finals, Sri Lanka played the 1996 and 2007 finals with both teams winning one championship each.
In India’s group games they won four games losing to South Africa while the game against England was a tie. Sri Lanka too won four games and lost to Pakistan while the game against Australia was washed off.
Read moreIndia have not beaten Sri Lanka in a World Cup match in India with both previous World Cup games between the countries here being won by the Sri Lankans. Both those wins came in Sri Lanka’s victorious campaign in the 1996 tournament.
Sri Lanka also have an impressive record against the Indians in World Cups having won four games compared to India’s two.
Mathews’ injury has upset Sri Lanka’s combination and they will have to think on a suitable combination to beat India to win their second World Cup.
India too have injury issues with left-arm fast bowler Ashish Nehra ruled out of the game after fracturing a finger. There have been quite a few ODIs between the sides as well within the last three years. In all, the teams have met each other in 33 matches since January 2008 with India winning 18 games and Sri Lanka 11.
The winners will walk away with a prize money of 3million US$ while the losers will be warded 1.5 million US$.
Sri Lanka (From): Kumar Sangakkara (Captain and Wicketkeeper), Mahela
Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera,
Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Thisara Perera, Nuwan
Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan,
Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath.
India (From): M.S. Dhoni (Captain and Wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, S. Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh.
Umpires: Simon Taufel (Aus) and Aleem Dar (Pak)
Third Umpire: Ian Gould (Eng)
Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ)
Rex Clementine
reporting from Bombay (The Island)
