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World Champions India arrive today
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 - 10:26 AM SL Time
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World Champions India arrive today
World Champions India arrive in the island this afternoon for a five-match ODI series and a T-20 International. The series gets underway on Saturday with Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Suriyawewa staging the first two ODIs. R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will host the third and fourth ODIs between the countries and then the teams will move to Pallekele for the final ODI and a T-20 International.
According to the ICC s Future Tour Programme (FTP), the tour was supposed to be a three-match Test series, but on the insistence of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the series was changed into a limited-overs one to help the bankrupt SLC to come out of their financial woes.
This will be the third series the countries will be involved in this year following the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia and the Asia Cup in Bangladesh.
Dashing opening batsman Virender Sehwag returns to the Indian side along with left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan after being rested for the Asia Cup. There s no Sachin Tendulkar however in the Indian squad, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Since the first ODI between the two countries way back in 1979, which Sri Lanka won, there have been 134 ODIs played between them with Sri Lanka winning 51 games and India tasting victory on 71 occasions.
Tendulkar has scored the most number of runs and hundreds in ODIs against Sri Lanka in a career spanning for 22 years having amassed over 3,000 runs and eight hundreds. Sanath Jayasuriya follows him closely with 2,900 runs and seven centuries. Jayasuriya also has 44 wickets against India to his credit. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have both amassed over 2,000 ODI runs against India while Tillekeratne Dilshan is 40 runs short of the 2,000-run mark.
India captain Dhoni has an exceptional record against Sri Lanka as he has scored 1,906 runs in 50 ODIs against Sri Lanka at an average of 63.53 and a strike rate of 89.90.
Retired off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has the most number of wickets against India with his 74 scalps, slightly ahead of Chaminda Vaas, who has taken 70 wickets against them. Zaheer Khan, with 62 wickets in 43 games, could go past both Sri Lankan greats in this series.
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