Sri Lanka’s win over Australia has thrown the series wide open

Sri Lanka’s bonus point victory over Australia at Sydney has really thrown open the tri-series and every game from now on will be crucial for all the three teams.

In one of my earlier columns I remember mentioning about how important it was for Sri Lanka to come to the party and make it an exciting three nation tournament.

Mahela and company has done exactly that and what thrills me more is the decision taken by the Sri Lankan captain to promote himself right to the top.

Sri Lanka has a long batting line-up and needed a solid start at the top and with the fielding restriction on, Mahela could also take the liberty to get back amongst runs.

What it also does is that the boundary scoring options open up for him in the first 10 overs and with the class he shows in test cricket it allows him to bat for longer periods.

While Sri Lankans seem to gather themselves with every passing game the Australians are looking a jittery lot, especially with their batting falling apart. Except for David Hussey no one has been consistent and it seems Aussie batting has suddenly gone in to a slumber.

David Warner has fallen silent after his explosive batting at Perth in the test series and it seems the opponent bowlers have sorted out a plan for him by bowling close to his body and also varying their pace.

While Ponting and Mike Hussey are struggling with their ODI form the newcomers in the side like Wade, Forrest, Christian have all failed to live up to situations and fire and more importantly have not been consistent. It is important for Ponting and Mike Hussey to score otherwise the voices will be out again.

It is very common when you are getting close to the end of your career and one must remember that the consistency level for ageing players have to be much more than the rest. Michael Clarke’s injury has also added to the Australian woes.

The batting failure is in a way also affecting the Australian bowling, which has so far looked to be the best of the three teams.

If the batters fail to put runs on the board then any bowling unit will start looking ordinary and so is the case happening for Australia.

Based on the current situation and form India should walk out confident at Brisbane in a very crucial tie.

Australia will be desperate to win and if they can put it across Dhoni and his boys then the tournament will open up even more. It will create a situation where any two teams can get in to the best of three finals.

Indian bowling and fielding is looking much sharper as days go by. But their problem still is their batting.

They are also playing at the Gabba for the first time and will have to get used to the bounce very quickly.

Gautam Gambhir, Kohli and Dhoni have been amongst runs but the remaining batters need to fire. If the rotation policy is to be given proper effect then Manoj Tewari should get a game at Brisbane.

He has waited in the wings for long and if provided a game on Sunday should try to make the most of it.

He should carry with him the confidence of the hundred he got in the last game for India and not worry about how he failed to score runs the last time he got on to the park at Brisbane few years back.

India should take full advantage of Australia’s jittery form and make sure they win this game to take a big step towards the three match final and leave the fight between Australia and Sri Lanka to qualify as the second team.