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Bayliss predicts a run-feast tomorrow
Rajkot, Dec 14 (PTI):
With the batsmen from both sides in excellent form, Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss predicted that tomorrow's first one dayer against India would be a run-feast.
Bayliss said the Sri Lankan batsmen were in good nick but so were the Indians and he was expecting a high-scoring thriller tomorrow.
"We look forward to it very much. We have been playing very good cricket. It is obviously going to be very competitive between these two sides. Both sides' batting is in form. I think we can look forward to plenty of runs," Bayliss said today.
"Both the sides played some very competitive cricket in Twenty20. The best thing to come out of the Twenty20 series was our batting and I am happy with the form of our batsmen," he said.
The tourists' coach indicated that aggressive batsman Sanath Jayasuriya could bat lower down the order and Upul Tharanga may open along with Tillakaratne Dilshan. "There is a possibility that he could bat anywhere in the order if we need him to. There is the Power-Play. That gives us a lot of flexibility. Plus, his performance at the top of the order has been quite good for us.
"The form of Tharanga at top order has been quite good for us. Tharanga had made some 70s and 80s in the home series against Pakistan a few months ago and we could not overlook him on his current form," he pointed out.
Bayliss, however, was not happy with fielding standard of his team in the Mohali Twenty20, which the visitors lost. "The fielding wasn't very good in the second Twenty20 but I think we did field well in the first one. That's what happens in the game of cricket. Some days you drop some, other days you field pretty well," he said. Bayliss was of the view his side would benefit with the coming of new players.
"I think any new player coming into the squad gives a bit of a lift to the other players in the team. That's certainly been what has been happening to us since the end of the Test series with new players and we have got two or three more players coming into the one-day squad," he said.
Lanka have brought in opener Upul Tharanga among others while Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar are returning to Indian ODI squad. While Praveen was not picked, Zaheer and Harbhajan were rested for the Twenty20 matches and Tendulkar does not play Twenty20 internationals.
