Sri Lanka vs India: Top Duels

Mumbai: Cricket is surely a team sport but there a few fascinating battles on the field that become hard to ignore. As India and Sri Lanka prepare for battle here is a look at the top duels.

Zaheer Khan vs Sanath Jayasuriya
Here are two gentlemen who were all but ousted from international cricket just around fifteen months back. However they have returned with a great deal of poise and are leading the charge for their respective teams.

Sri Lanka, just as they did a decade back, are still largely dependent on the Matara Mauler to give them the electrifying starts. India, on the other hand, have been blessed in recent times with the exceptional new-ball bowling of spearhead Zaheer Khan.

Zaheer has dismissed Jayasuriya six times in 26 encounters. The positive to draw for India is that Zaheer nailed Jayasuriya on a low score on all these occasions. He dismissed him twice during last year's series. Conversely it would be difficult to rule out Jayasuriya's blitz against Zak over the last 9 years.

They first collided during the Champions Trophy in Sharjah in October 2000 when Jayasuriya hammered189 runs in the final; however a fired up 22-year old Zaheer conceded only 53 runs from his 10-over spell – proving very early that he was a star.

Of late the contest has certainly evened out and will intensify even further when the teams lock horns in the first one-day international on Wednesday at Dambulla.

Ajantha Mendis vs Yuvraj Singh
Brian Lara's heir – the modern Prince of southpaws – may have achieved phenomenal success in his one-day career since the day he stepped foot on a cricket pitch but a good set of performances against the mighty Lankans eludes this flamboyant batsman.

In 40 ODIs against the Islanders, Yuvraj averages an appalling 28 runs per innings, his strike-rate dips to 79 when compared to his career strike-rate of 89; besides that he is still to score a century against the Sri Lankans.

A new adversary from the Lankan camp is out to torment his stay at the crease – his name is Ajantha Mendis. In six encounters thus far, Mendis has nailed Yuvraj on four occasions – more importantly three of those dismissals were bowled.

However Yuvraj is confident that he would turn it around this time around. In an interview to cricketnirvana.com's Editor Faisal Shariff, Yuvraj said "I had five bad innings so it was just not him (Mendis). Now it will be different because I'm in good form."

Yuvraj was in good form before the start of the series too but a bit of Mendis magic blemished his confidence, form, foot-work and what not! If Yuvraj fails to read Mendis once again there would be serious doubts about the batsman's ability to play quality spin – which could affect his place in the team in the long run. This makes the battle all the more fascinating.

Sachin Tendulkar vs Muttiah Muralidaran
The little master hasn't turned out for a one-day international in Sri Lanka since August 2006 and his last experience at the Emerald Island was the worst of his Test career. He averaged 15 runs per innings and failed to decode the mystifying duo of Mendis and Murali. He was dismissed by Murali on two occasions – both in the first Test.

However don't count the genius out as he has taken Murali to the cleaners in the past. Tendulkar has a fabulous record against Sri Lanka and especially against Murali. Who can ever forget Tendulkar paddle-sweeping Murali for a handful of sixes at Premadasa in 1998 or when he smashed 97 runs at Johannesburg during the 2003 World Cup?

It has been the real contest – in terms of heavyweight battles of modern day cricket. Tendulkar vs Warne was forever glorified since the former got the better of the leggie. Merely as a batsman vs spinner contest – Tendulkar vs Murali stands out as the best.

Both stalwarts are expected to bow out at the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent. The next two years is the ideal time for youngsters in both teams to learn a thing or two from these geniuses. However they are not there on reputation but purely on merit – still outperforming players with less than half their experience.

It should be a cracking contest – especially when the chips are down for both sides.