Abundance to ponder for unsettled India

In his second coming as captain, Mahela Jayewardene has overcome observers with his leadership and on-field strategies. Sri Lanka needed him to end his lean run as a batsman, something he did with the half-century next to Australia after pushing himself up to the top of the order. In his 11 innings as opener, he averages 67.90 which is twice his career mean. Sri Lanka has made stuttering starts in recent matches - 20 or less for the first wicket in 12 of their past 16 ODIs. Jayawardene wants to correct that by taking over at the top.

Virat Kohli has recognized himself as the best of the next generation of Indian batsmen, moving ahead of the likes of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. He had an exceptional 2011, scoring more runs than anyone else in ODIs, but hasn't hit those heights in this series. With Dhoni missing and much of the batting line-up struggling for form, he needs to make the runs befitting his new-found status.


Team news

India has several questions to ponder. Either Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina will probably have to make way for Parthiv Patel. The bowling combination will also have changes, with the four-quick policy likely to be discarded.

India: (probable) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rohit Sharma/Suresh Raina, 6 Parthiv Patel (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Vinay Kumar/Zaheer Khan, 11 Umesh Yadav

Sri Lanka has no reason to make too many changes. The only batsman with a question over his place is Lahiru Thirimanne and he didn't get to bat in the previous match. Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara are Sri Lanka's first-choice fast bowlers. With Thisara Perera turning in a Man-of-the-Match presentation in Sydney and Farveez Maharoof making a superb comeback, Sri Lanka could again go in with a pace-heavy attack.

Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Rangana Herath

Pitch and conditions

The Australian fast bowlers thrived at the Gabba, and the same surface will be used for Tuesday's game. There isn't good news on the weather front - thundershowers are predicted in the afternoon and evening.

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MS Dhoni suspended for one ODI due to slow over-rate

MS Dhoni has been suspended for one ODI and India fine for the team's second over-rate break in ODIs in less than a year. India were establish to be two over’s short during their 110-run beat against Australia in Brisbane, after time allowances were taken into thought. Match referee Andy Pycroft also fined Dhoni 40% of his match fee and the team's other players were fined 20% each.

This was India's second over-rate infringe this tour. Dhoni was suspended from the Adelaide Test earlier this year for a slow over-rate in the previous game in Perth, where India had gone in with four fast bowlers. Today, at the Gabba, the visitors played four steamers again. Ravindra Jadeja's left-arm spin was not employed in the game, prompted, as Dhoni said, by the presence of several left-handers in the Australian side, though it could have better the over-rate if used.

The latest suspension is a effect of two "minor" over-rate offences in ODIs within a year- the first one being during the 2011 World Cup final in Mumbai. The grounds for the decision to take such an action against any responsible captain were laid at the ICC's annual conference in Hong Kong last year where harsher penalties were called for next to teams failing to meet their over-rate targets.

"At its meeting in June 2011 in Hong Kong, the ICC Executive Board had discuss the issue of slow over-rates and accepted the recommendation of the ICC Cricket Committee that a captain of an international side should be suspended for one match if his side is guilty of two minor over-rate offences in the same format over a 12-month period," the ICC said.

A 'Minor Over-Rate Offence' is when a side is found to be upto two overs short in an ODI or a T20I and upto five overs short in a Test.

The on-field umpires Steve Davies and Billy Bowden, third umpire Bruce Oxenford and fourth umpire Paul Reiffel laid the charge, to which Dhoni plead guilty and accepted the suspension. "Dhoni also acknowledged that he had been kept informed of the position regarding over-rates on a regular basis throughout the match and therefore accepted the decision," the ICC release stated.

Dhoni was suspended for slow over-rates more than years ago as well. He had to sit out of two ODIs during a home series against Sri Lanka, as a result of which Virender Sehwag had to take over. India will now take on Sri Lanka on February 21 without Dhoni, their most consistent batsman this series with scores of 44*, 58* and 56 in his last three appearances.

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MS Dhoni deliver nerve-shredding tie

Sri Lanka 236 for 9 (Chandimal 81, Jayawardene 43, Vinay 3-46, Ashwin 2-30) tied with India 236 for 9 (Gambhir 91, Dhoni 58*, Thisara 2-45)

When all else are losing their minds in frantic finishes, what is cricket's coolest customer MS Dhoni thinking?

"It's important to be blank," says the Indian captain.

After orchestrating a win and a tie within 48 hours in Adelaide, Dhoni offered revealing insights into his run-chasing expertise.

On Sunday night in Adelaide, Dhoni was instrumental as India smacked 13 runs from the final over to defeat Australia.

On Tuesday night, Dhoni again expertly guided India against Sri Lanka but, needing four from the last ball, his shot was saved on the boundary - he ran three for the tie.

Some, including his team-mate Gautam Gambhir, say he shouldn't wait until the last over to try to win games.

But Dhoni merely points to his successes. "Why fix something that is not broken ... this is working for us," he said after the tie with the Lankans.

Dhoni, batting No.7, said he doesn't "have the luxury of batsmen behind me". "So if I go in, more often than not I like to finish the job," he said. "Some people like to finish the game early and take a bit more risk in the middle overs ... but I have a different perspective about it.

"We all can easily play the big shot. The difference is it always has to pay off.
"If it doesn't pay off, what do you say, the shot wasn't needed.

"So I am never in a hurry to finish it in the 48th or 47th over. If it goes to the 49th over or the 50th over, I'm quite happy."

But what goes through his mind in the tense final moments when he holds his nation's fortunes in his hands? "Basically, it's blank," Dhoni said. "They bowl yorkers at your toe, stumps and outside off.

"So if you get set up for a ball that you suppose will be right at the stumps and it's an outside off yorker, it's a really difficult ball to hit. "It's important to be blank.

"And you back yourself - if you're not backing yourself to get those four runs, then it will be tougher to get those four runs ... you have to back yourself."

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Commonwealth Bank Series, 2011/12 / Points table

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
Australia	7	4	3	0	0	19	+0.553
Sri Lanka	6	3	2	1	0	15	+0.426
India	7	2	4	1	0	10	-0.887

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