What to expect in the 3rd test at P Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo

[Fontaine]

This is great, Sharma will be at home on this pitch and Zaheer can also get the odd one to bounce up well, not to mention Kumble's height will also factor into getting his deliveries to rise up sharply from the track!! I don't like the chances of the Sri Lankan batsmen on these conditions.

[Shane]

Lets look what the pitch has to offer tomm, i seriously doubt that it will assist the Fast Bowlers, coz the home team's strength has been the spinners, it will all unfold tomm

[Rohan495]

if that being the case look forward to VVS smashing a sublime century he loves bouncy wickets and the ball coming on to the bat hope he has solved his short ball problems because he got out cheaply like that in Aus

[Feed]

Riveting series awaits fitting finale Not for the first time did Sri Lanka lay claims to invincibility at home, and not for the first time did India come back from the dead like only India can. If the teams can continue from where they left in Galle, we are in for some match . More... Sri Lanka v India, 3rd Test, PSS, Colombo Riveting series awaits fitting finale The Preview by Sidharth Monga August 7, 2008 With a top-score of 44 between them in eight innings, there is plenty to be discussed © Cricinfo Ltd Match facts Friday August 8 - Tuesday August 12, 2008 Start time 10.15am (0445GMT) Big Picture Sri Lanka v India has already made a strong claim to being called the Asian Ashes, as opposed to the contests between Pakistan and India who, over their last two series, produced some of the most unappetising Test cricket on pitches that didn't deserve any better. The matches in this series have been far more exciting than the victory margins seem to suggest. The first Test witnessed the coming together of two spinners who look set to form the most fearsome bowling duo since McGrath-Warne. Till as late as the final two sessions and a bit of a see-saw second Test, one team took a lead of some sort, only to be pulled back even before they could feel comfortable. Not for the first time did Sri Lanka lay claims to invincibility at home, only for India to come back from the dead in the next Test. That's raised the stakes for the third Test: India have not won a series in Sri Lanka since 1993, and Sri Lanka are looking for revenge for the 0-2 hammering they received when they last toured India. If the teams can continue from where they left off in Galle, we are in for some match. Form guide (last 5 Tests) Sri Lanka LWLWD (most recent first) India WLWLD Watch out for Muttiah Muralitharan: Murali is not used to not contributing, and one of the key factors in India's success in Galle was that he took only 5 for 200, three of which were tailenders' wickets, after the damage had been done. He will look to make amends. The Fab Four: Similarly, the famed Indian middle order is not used to failing so consistently. Between them they have managed one half-century in 16 innings. Their response will be interesting: will they master or be mastered? Sehwag v Mendis: Two runaway stars of the series, both capable of turning a match around in a very short period. Without doubt Sehwag has been the best Indian batsman against Mendis, who has come across as a threat as big as Murali, if not bigger. Will they decide the series between them? Will Sehwag survive till Mendis comes on? If he does, will there be a repeat of Galle (76 in 83 balls) or the Asia Cup final (out second ball)? Team news Dinesh Karthik had done little behind the stumps in the first two Tests to inspire confidence in the bowlers and, with his captain among the bowlers to suffer, he may be axed in favour of Parthiv Patel, who last played a Test in October 2004. The rest of the line-up remains the same. India (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Parthiv Patel (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ishant Sharma. © weather.com Sri Lanka decided to stick on with Michael Vandort - 17 runs in three innings so far - but were not as kind to Nuwan Kulasekara, who has taken one wicket in the two Tests. They are yet to decide whether they to pick Thilan Thushara, the left-arm medium-pacer, or hand out a debut to Dammika Prasad, whose pace has been a talking point ever since he was added to the squad after the first Test. Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Michael Vandort, 2 Malinda Warnapura, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Thilan Thushara/Dammika Prasad. Umpires: Mark Benson and Rudi Koertzen. Third umpire: Billy Doctrove Pitch & conditions The pitch is likely to be hard and bouncy, a welcome news for all parties involved: pace bowlers, spinners, and the batsmen. But if the conditions are pacer-friendly, India stand a better chance of exploiting them. Scattered thunderstorms are forecast for the five days of the Test, but that is expected in August in Sri Lanka. The thunderstorms in the first two Tests were not enough to rob us of a result, and the teams will be hoping for the same here. Stats & Trivia Sri Lanka have not lost a match at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium ever since Test cricket returned to the venue in July 2002; they have won four and drawn one. This is also the ground where Sri Lanka played their first Test, and later recorded their first Test win. The last time India won back-to-back Tests was 19 matches ago - and that was the last and first match of two different series. Their previous back-to-back wins against the same opposition came against Sri Lanka in 2005-06 at home. The spinners have taken 51 of the 66 wickets to have fallen so far. Ishant Sharma leads the pace bowlers with five wickets, while Zaheer Khan and Chaminda Vaas have managed four each. Harbhajan Singh, who took his first away 10-wicket haul in the Galle Test, is 13 short of reaching 300 wickets. If he manages to reach the mark in this Test, this will be some comeback. Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo © Cricinfo

[Sachinism]

why does weather always show rain, i think the system is messed up hopefully we get a good start, that would be the most important thing

[Chaos]

This siddarth mongia can stuff something up his arrse. He included mendis nailing sehwag in a ODI. Big difference between odi and tests u idiot

[Feed]

We are under control of situation: Kumble Sounding confident ahead of the crucial third and final Test against Sri Lanka, the Indian skipper said the middle order would do well this time to clinch the series. Mission Sri Lanka More... We are under control of situation: Kumble Press Trust Of India Colombo, August 07, 2008 First Published: 19:14 IST(7/8/2008) Last Updated: 19:30 IST(7/8/2008) India skipper Anil Kumble on Thursday said wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel will replace butter-fingered Dinesh Kaarthick in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in the match beginning in Colombo on Friday. Parthiv, who played his last international match against Australia in the 2004 Nagpur Test will make a comeback in the team following Dinesh Kaarthick's disappointing stint in the last two Test matches. "Parthiv Patel comes in place of Dinesh Kaarthick," Kumble told reporters in the pre-match press conference. As India's middle order has been a cause of concern for their below-par show in the first two matches, Kumble on Thursday admitted it was a time for the batsmen to fire on all cylinders. "Coach Gary Kirsten will be missed but we have enough players to get going. We are under control of the situation. We have done everything to comeback in the Test match. It is a great feeling that we won a match without the help of the middle order. The middle order is due for a big score," he said. Kumble said it would be important to get good partnerships in both bowling and batting if India had to win the last Test match.