Won?t be easy for India
While meeting Lanka today, India hope to bury the past, writes CS Luthra.
It's never been easy for India to tour Sri Lanka. Through the ages, they have struggled to make an impact on the slow wickets here. This time too, it doesn't seem like it's going to be very different come Saturday, when the two teams open the Nidhas Trophy at the breathtaking Rangiri Stadium here. But there's always hope.
After gruelling practice sessions under new coach Greg Chappell, the Indians would be looking to bury the past and give their new coach a "birthday present" in the form of Sri Lanka's Independence trophy. Interestingly, when India hosted their Independence Cup in 1997, Sri Lanka were the proud winners. The time has come now for India to settle scores .
This would also be an acid test for the three Aussie coaches in charge --- Chappell, Tom Moody and Bennett King.
Apart from King, who has the excuse of leading a depleted West Indian side, the other Aussies would be feeling the heat to deliver in this, their debut series. Chappell though, disagreed. "This is a tournament between three teams and not the three coaches," he said.
The Indians had a three-hour net session and looked good. "We had good camp and a few good practice matches. Now we're keenly awaiting the start of the series," skipper Rahul Dravid said later.
