Top 5 things to expect from the India-Sri Lanka-West Indies Tri-Series

The excitement around India’s Champions Trophy victory will hardly have fizzled out when West Indies and Sri Lanka kick off the triangular series that also involves India on the 28th of June at Sabina Park. The competition should be an exciting one as all the three teams are competitive in the shorter version of the game and enjoyed relative success at the Champions Trophy. West Indies, who will host the tournament, were rather unlucky as they made an early group stage exit from the tournament despite losing just one of their three scheduled games. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, were evicted by eventual champions India in the semi-finals.

India had named an unchanged squad for the competition initially but Irfan Pathan’s hamstring injury forced India to replace him with right-hand seamer Shami Ahmed, who has played 5 ODI’s for India with moderate success. Sri Lanka have their own injury issues to be addressed. T.Dilshan had to be replaced because of the calf injury that forced him to limp off the crease in the semi-final against India whereas, Thisara Perera was dropped after a series of unconvincing performances. Ajantha Mendis has been included in the squad. West Indies have dropped R. Sarwan from the squad that played in the Champions Trophy and Dinesh Ramdin will be back after serving his two-match suspension.

The tri-series promises to be an exciting event. Here is a list of 5 things you look forward to when the two sub-continent giants take on the West Indies:

5. Tight Finishes

Even though India will enter the tournament as favorites, all three teams are well balanced and should give us a competitive tournament. India might look to experiment with their squad and that will bring a bit of instability which their opponents can exploit. The West Indian pitches have tended to be on the slower side in the past few years, which means we will see a lot of slower balls, mid-way totals and nerve-wracking chases. The series comes immediately after the Champions Trophy so narrow finishes will be required to grab the eyeballs.

4. West Indian flavour

West Indian cricketers are complete entertainers. They believe in a no-nonsense brand of cricket. While the bowling department has undergone a gradual degradation from the bowl fast, bounce’em out thought process, the batting department retains its hit hard, hit far philosophy. In Kemar Roach, they have an exciting fast bowler who can light the competition. Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard are potent all-rounders who contribute with the bat and the ball. They are also athletic on the field adding that extra bit of energy to the game. It will be great for International cricket if they can do well in this series.

3. Indian Batting

The Indian batting lit up the Champions Trophy and they will be expected to do the same in the triangular series. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma formed a formidable opening pair and more runs will be expected from them as the partnership is still in its nascent stage. The idea is to look at the larger picture for the 2015 World Cup. Dinesh Karthik did well in the warm up games but he failed to perform in the final. His performance in the middle order will be under scrutiny. Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni are stable fixtures in the side and big runs will be expected of them. Suresh Raina had hardly anything to do in the Champions trophy and MS Dhoni might push him up the order early on in the series.

2. The Revenge Match

Sri Lanka suffered yet another defeat to India at the business end of a big-ticket ICC tournament. The bitterness of that defeat will be fresh in their mind and they will want to extract some sweet revenge from the opportunity provided to them by this tri-series. Mahela Jayawardene has already talked about the quality of the Indian side and how he believes that they will be the side to beat. Ajantha Mendis has troubled India in the past and the slow wickets of West Indies will support his style of bowling.

1. Spin

India, West Indies and Sri Lanka are three sides who have the most unorthodox spinners in their sides. The so called ‘mystery spinners’ have achieved a lot of success in international cricket in the last few years. West Indian pitches are likely to offer spin but they will be slow, add to that the fact that two sub-continent sides are participating and you know it will be a test of skill. India’s R. Ashwin played second fiddle to R. Jadeja for most part of the Champions Trophy but came out on top in the final where he played a huge part by getting the key wicket of Jonathan Trott. Sunil Narine is the top mystery bowler in the world today and it appears that he has a lot more than novelty in his bag. The Indian batsmen had some trouble picking him and it will be interesting to see if he can deliver the goods in this series.