India head for Sri Lanka without injured Tendulkar

India will be without injured batting star Sachin Tendulkar and under heavy pressure to snap a three-year losing streak in one-day finals when they leave for Sri Lanka on Monday.

Tendulkar has been advised rest after a foot injury flared up during India's tour of Zimbabwe earlier this month which ended with a surprise defeat by the West Indies in the final of a triangular one-day tournament.

The Indian team will be playing their second three-nation series in less than a month when they face New Zealand and hosts Sri Lanka in the tournament starting on Wednesday.

They will also play a three-test series during their 48-day visit to Sri Lanka, the second of three consecutive overseas tours in a hectic season.

The Indians will hope to end a sequence of losing the finals of limited-overs tournaments involving three or more teams, a streak which now stands at seven.

The Zimbabwe defeat, after winning all four of their round robin games, followed losses in the finals of bigger events like the ICC Knockout Cup tournament in Nairobi late last year, where they fell to New Zealand.

TOUGHER SERIES

The tournament in Sri Lanka is expected to be tougher than that in Zimbabwe. India were bowled out by Sri Lanka for 54, the second lowest total in one-dayers, in a crushing defeat in a triangular tournament in Sharjah in October.

"Sri Lanka and New Zealand will certainly be tougher than Zimbabwe and West Indies," said a national selector, who felt Indian players suffered from a mental block in finals.

Indian captain Saurav Ganguly, who is under pressure because of his indifferent batting form, has been criticised for asking West Indies to bat first in the 16-run loss in Harare.

The selector, who asked not to be identified, said Ganguly chose to field first in the final only because India had won all their qualifying games with a similar tactic.

"We can't go by history, by what happened in the previous matches. We should be positive in such situations," he said.

He said Indian batsmen should learn to maintain the run rate even if they lose quick wickets if they are to regularly succeed in chasing big totals.

India's job will be tougher without Tendulkar, who will join the squad only for the last round robin game. He will also play in the final on August 5 if India qualify.

The selectors have recalled attacking left-hander Amay Khurasiya as a stop-gap opener almost two years after he played the last of his 10 one-day games.

The 28-year-old Khurasiya will have to produce a greatly improved display, having made only 137 runs in his previous nine innings at an average of 15.22.

GANGULY UNDER PRESSURE

The tour will be crucial for Ganguly after his hopes of leading India to their first test series win outside the subcontinent in 15 years were dashed in Zimbabwe.

The hosts came back to square a two-game series 1-1 after an Indian second innings batting collapse which saw seven wickets tumble for 37 runs in the second test.

Ganguly made only 14 runs in three test innings in Zimbabwe and is under pressure to regain his batting fluency despite making two half centuries in the one-dayers that followed.

The selectors have retained him as captain for Sri Lanka, but Ganguly wants a fixed tenure.

"As it is, I've got to not only concentrate on my game, but also the captaincy... It will be easier if I'm given a fixed tenure, whatever the period, instead of being reappointed series by series," he said.

Mail Cricket Editor