India eyeing record win

Having clinched the five-match series by taking a 3-0 lead, India will look to maintain the momentum in the fourth ODI.

The win would be a record ninth consecutive win for Team India and by the looks of it the team looks unstoppable.

Although the visitors would ideally like to make a clean sweep of the series, giving an opportunity to the bench players will be their priority in the remaining two games.

Everything has gone well for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and company til now and the team will be keen to keep the momentum going.

The Indian batting has looked far superior than the Sri Lankan batting attack and the bowling has also been much more sharper and disciplined.

New players might get a look in

Dhoni made it clear after the third win that giving reserve players a chance to prove themselves would be his priority rather than the pursuit of the record ninth straight ODI win.

"We are not looking at the record. Rather, we will give chance to players who didn't get a chance to play in the series so far," Dhoni said.

"We are 3-0 up and have already won the series. It gives us an opportunity to play those players. For us, this is the priority. The team is not looking at the record but giving chance to those players," he said.

India humiliated Sri Lanka with a 147-run win under floodlights at the R Premadasa stadium on Tuesday to seal the series. Sri Lanka, however, have only pride to play for in the remaining matches which are of no more than mere academic interest now.

Jayawardene will have to ensure that his team executes the game plan well and wins the next two matches to reclaim their lost confidence ahead of the busy season.

Jayawardene admitted his team was not up to the standard of Dhoni's men and there were some areas which needed immediate attention, especially the bowling which was absolutely off the mark on Tuesday.

"There are certain areas we need to tighten up. Against a good opposition like India, certain things were not up to the standard," he said.

"We'll definitely have a chat with the selectors now but we need our best team to win the next two matches, which is very important to get back the confidence. We have a lot of cricket ahead," he said.

Bowling concern for SL

Bowling would be the main area of concern for the home side after seeing Ferveez Maharoof and Dilhara Fernando perform in the third match returning figures of 7-0-68-0 and 8-0-63-1 respectively.

Other bowlers - Nuwan Kulasekara (10-0-68-0), Ajantha Mendis (9-0-64-1) and Muttiah Muralitharan (10-0-60-1) were also no better.

"I am disappointed with the bowling," Jayawardene said after the match.

Besides, his main weapons Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis will also need to urgently find a way to stop the rampaging Indians.

For the Indians, there are really no major worries and it remains to be seen who are the seniors to be rested for Thursday's match to be played under lights at the SSC.

Umpiring howler claims Sachin again

Sachin Tendulkar has fallen victim to dubious umpiring decisions three times in a row and would be keen to make his presence felt with a substantial contribution.

Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag, the two centurions in the last game, could be rested along with pace spearhead Zaheer Khan who has taken a lot of bowling load in recent times.

Ravindra Jadeja could get a look in, in place of Yuvraj Singh.

Teams (from):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jaywardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilina Kandamby, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekera, Thilina Thushara and Angelo Mathews.