Daijiworld Media Network

Perth, Feb 8: welcome to one and all for the 2nd match of the Commonwealth Bank series. India are up against Sri Lanka at the WACA, Perth.

After the sensational World Cup finals in  March 2011, India and Sri Lanka will come face to face for the first time at the WACA, Perth for Commonwealth Bank Series, which also involves host Australia.

Both teams have their own problems. After the World Cup, India faced humiliating defeats at the hands of England and Australia in test series. Sri Lanka are also sailing in the same boat, as they lost at the hands of South Africa and England in both Test and ODIs.

The second match of this series is being played today. Sri Lanka have won the toss and elected to bat first. Gautham Gambhir has been rested and explosive opener Virendra Sehwag is back in the ODI side. He will open the innings with Sachin Tendulkar. Zaheer Khan is also playing in place of Rahul Sharma, rest of the team has been retained from the first ODI at Melbourne.

For Sri Lanka, surprisingly, Mahela Jayawardane is leading the side after Tilakaratne stepped down from captaincy after the team's poor performance in South Africa.

In Australia, India have faced Lanka five times, winning two and losing one. Two ended without result. India has bitter experience in Perth as it lost the test match against Australia in two and half days.

In Perth, India has played eight ODIs sofar, and lost in five matches, winning only three.

Dhoni: We have made two changes. Gautam has been rested and Rahul Sharma has an injury. Zaheer and Sehwag are back in the squad. We are looking forward to the contest. We are confident about our chances.

Mahela: We will bat first. The pitch looks good and we will look to set a total. We are playing four quicks and seven batsmen. We had a good finish against South Africa and we will look to carry forward the momentum. Captaincy is a new challenge for me and I am looking to do well.

Pitch Report: Ravi Shastri feels that it is a Day 3 pitch, but it still is really hard. There are some patches of grass. There will be a lot of bounce on offer for the bowlers. Ian Chappell reckons that the batsmen can trust the bounce. The players who play the horizontal bat shots can do well here. The team that wins the toss should bat first. 

It has been 10 months since the two teams were on a high. Since then it has been all downhill for both teams. India have struggled away from home comforts while Sri Lanka have been plagued by controversies both on and off the field. Both teams will look to forget the past as they embark on a new journey.

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Dinesh Chandimal, Mahela Jayawardene(c), Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dhammika Prasad