Fourth one day match hopes: Indian team is leading of five one day international match series by winning two matches of first three matches and would like to win the fourth one day match to win the series and exceed it lead as well. Fourth one day international match will be played at Eden garden in Kolkata on December 24, 2009 from 2:30 pm and there may be effects of dew in the match as it is day night match. Indian cricket fans will be waiting for Indian victory to win the series as Indian team has already reached at first rank in test teams tally and now it is turn to perform well in one day matches. Virender Sehwag will be leading Indian team in this match too as regular skipper M S Dhoni is still under ban for this match too. Indian team had won third one day match played under the captainship of Virender Sehwag at Cuttack and this gave more hopes from him to win fourth match as well. He had played role of captain very well in the third one day international and helped Indian team to take lead over the Sri Lankan team by one match.
Batting order concern: Indian team was already missing skipper M S Dhoni in third one day because of ban on him but Yuvraj Singh was playing in the match even with the finger injury. In fourth one day international both Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh will not be playing and Virat Kohli who is youngster and inexperienced in international cricket will be replacing Yuvraj Singh. Indian batting order is still not so weak and has many good experienced players who can lead Indian team to win the match and have the ability to change the match conditions at any moment. Openers i.e. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar will have to play well and they should stay longer in the middle as they are among most experienced players and they looks in good form. Sachin Tendulkar had made brilliant 96 runs in last match and there are big hopes from him to play a big inning at Eden Garden which can lead Indian team to lead in the match. Virender Sehwag will be having double responsibility in the match as a skipper as well as a batsman and he need to stay longer at the crease to give India a good start. Gautam Gambhir who is not in good form will also have to put his efforts in the match to make Indian team batting order strong and after him young players will have time to show their talent in the match with their bat. Dinesh Kartik who is playing at the place of regular skipper M S Dhoni will also have to show magic with his bat if Indian team will need.
Indian bowling attack: In Kolkata one day match toss will be big gamble for both the teams as there will be dew in the nights and it will definitely play its affect in the game so it will be a luck game to win the toss for the match. Indian bowlers had shown good bowling performance in the last one day and they will have to continue their game. Pitch at Eden Garden is bouncy and firm which is tailor made for the batting so Indian bowlers will have to take the break through time to time and will have to stop the opponent team to score much. Fielding will also a big concern as if Indian team will be fielding in second half then it will not be easy to field because of dew. Indian fielders will not have to drop catches and not to miss any chance they get to pick up the wicket and should try to stop the Sri Lankan team from making more runs. Tilakaratne Dilshan is in good form and making good runs for their team and he can be big headache for Indian team if Indian bowler will not send him to pavilion soon. Virender Sehwag will have to put right bowlers on attack at right time as a captain and will also have to complete the game in the given time period not making the mistake which Dhoni did and faced ban of two matches. Indian team will need to show team spirit to win the match and will have to show excellent game in every field whether that is batting, bowling or fielding and only one individual can’t make team win so there will be need of complete team effort to win the match as well as series. Last two matches played between the India and Sri Lanka had finished without results as semi-final match in 1996 World Cup saw India bow out of the tournament because of crowd riots while one day international played on February 8, 2007 was washed away by the heavy rain.
Sri Lanka will play to win: Sri Lankan team will put their complete efforts in the match as they would not like to lose the series at any cost as they are already behind the Indian team and if they will lose this match then they will be loser in the series. So it will be tough match between the two teams in Kolkata. They are also missing their good bowlers like Dilhara Fernando and Muttiah Muralitharan who are injured and not playing in the series now. Sri Lanka will be playing to win the match and Sanath Jayasuriya will also be playing in this match to strengthen their batting attack. Tillakaratne Dilshan is in good form and team has hopes from him to score well for team. Mahela Jayawardene who is out of form in last matches will be a concern for team for their batting order. Mathews is also not playing in the match who had made also missed the last match because of injury and he is also a big loss for them as he is good all-rounder. But still they will try to win the match with the team efforts and not giving up in the series.
