— Photo: S. Subramanium

GEARING UP: The Sri Lankan coach is confident that his team would fight back in the second one-dayer at Mohali.

A 152-run defeat may not be the best thing to happen to a team at the start of a series, but the loss at Nagpur has actually brought this Sri Lankan side closer together, so that we are fully prepared to launch a fight back at Mohali. What will help us is that this time around, we know what to expect. The way the Indians came out at Nagpur, all guns blazing, took us slightly by surprise, and we failed to generate the momentum that the Indians did. However, there will be certain obvious but significant differences between Mohali and Nagpur.

For starters, it's a day-night match, which always has an impact on the conditions, which in turn affects the composition of the side and the toss. A view that is increasingly gaining ground these days is that particularly in a one-day match, the toss won is half the game won. I don't subscribe to that view simply because, even in the past, teams that batted second in a one-day game were under more pressure than the team that had actually set the target.

Granted, in conditions like those that prevail in England, batting first in a day-night encounter is a big advantage because the ball tends to seam around in the evenings and is harder to grip. But Mohali is not England, and if you look at the record books, you will find that in the eight one-day matches that have been played here, the team that lost the toss actually won the game on four occasions, not always batting first — a perfect 50:50 situation. Need I say more?

As regards the pitch, spinners have traditionally played a lesser role in Mohali, so we will probably think more in terms of adding depth to the pace attack. In the end, however, it all comes back to the mindset of a team.

Slight advantage

Any side that believes that winning or losing a game depends on the toss has lost the match before a ball has been bowled. Winning the toss may give a team a slight advantage, but it is up to its opponent to prevent a toss from becoming a distinct advantage.

Happily, when it comes to psychological strength, this Sri Lankan side is right up there with the best of them. This is a side that is immensely proud of all its achievements in the past few years, and I am lucky to have inherited a successful bunch of players. The essence of Sri Lankan cricket is its spontaneity, passion and resilience.

It may have looked as though we folded without much of a fight in the opening game, but I can assure you that there was plenty of personal pride at stake, as was evident in the way Chaminda Vaas went about his batting. It is just that after we lost Sangakarra and Jayasuriya in the space of six balls, our run chase fell apart under the simultaneous pressure of having to keep wickets intact while trying to score at 10 runs an over.

Let's face it, chasing 300, let alone 350, on any surface anywhere in the world is a huge task.

On the contrary, the Indians had a near-perfect day at the office — mistimed shots landed in no man's land, near run-outs went in their favour, there were plays-and-misses but no nicks, and a reshuffle of the batting order produced spectacular results.

Such days are rare however, and Mohali will certainly be a whole new ball game. You can be sure we're ready for it.

— Gameplan

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