Yuvi, Sanga, step forward

Today would a very good day for Yuvraj Singh to find form, and to get some monkeys off his back. Today would also be a good day for Sangakkara to do well. Who wouldn't like to see two contrasting lefties do well? (Folks that don't want the Delhi Daredevils to get to the semis, that's who).

Serendip to the rescue

Sri Lanka's tour of India is off to a very soggy start. Two days play washed out and it's not clear there will be any play on the third. Thus, the Lankan lads are looking at going into the first test, which starts on the 16th, without any match practice. Two factors combine to make this not into a terribly big deal: tour matches don't seem to have the importance they used to (not in the kind of international calendar we have these days) and the Sri Lankan team is visiting from, well, Sri Lanka, and not England (conditions won't be so terribly unfamiliar to them). They will back their spinners to cause discomfort to the Indians (despite Mendis' decipherment, I'd be very surprised if he is not played with due respect), and they have the bats to exploit the conditions.

Yet, despite this fit with local circumstances, which has also existed in tours previously, Sri Lanka have not won a test in India. This is a rather strange business. The problem, of course, is that they are playing India in the same conditions, which fact suddenly dispels some of the strangeness of this particular achievement. But it does add a little spice to the proceedings, already enlivened by Sangakkara's channeling of the 'final frontier' in his pre-tour interviews.

For their part, the home side is up to it's usual tricks of over-inflated squads with curious selections (Sreesanth, really?) and dubious scheduling decisions (I'd much prefer if tests were only allocated to the big five of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai). Now that Dhoni has lost some of his aura (despite this year's loss of aura in one-day internationals, it will, willy-nilly, infect perceptions of him in test cricket as well), his moves might be watched just a little more closely.

I, for one, am intrigued. My personal battle with the timezones lies ahead.

On to the Compaq Cup final

Right. So we have a one-day final tomorrow. The Compaq Cup (which features a pretty digital trophy, like totally 21st century, if you know what I mean).

India have a chance to do two things: take back the No. 1 spot, which they held for some 24 hours (at least, I think they get it back, but I'm not sure), and more to the point, they have a chance to try and get over the "finals jinx", because they have this really bad habit of losing in anything that ends with the word "Final."

Sri Lanka have the chance to just continue smacking India around the Park like they did on Saturday (can someone confirm if that was the same pitch on which India clobbered New Zealand? I'm serious).

Despite all my recent snarkiness about the one-day game, I'm genuinely interested in this game. I would like to see: Tendulkar and Dravid bat; the Indian trio of Nehra/RP Singh/Sharma fire; Dilshan/Jaya/Sanga batting; Mendis/Malinga bowling. I still like ODIs when the stakes are "high." This isn't a big deal as far as tournaments go, but there is always some national pride at stake. And importantly, Sri Lanka is playing at home, so the atmosphere should be have a crackle and pop to it. The one-day final, with a big crowd behind it, is still a marquee international cricket event. Fingers crossed, we'll get a good game.

Oh, and the times are good. The games start at 5 AM, and thanks to a pesky back injury, I haven't had any trouble waking up then!