Underdone Sri Lanka dial down expectations

Somewhere in Sri Lanka Cricket's drive to justify a sudden ODI tour of India, the board enlisted the spirit of 1996 for moral assistance. "All Sri Lankan cricket fans will remember," a line in an SLC press release began, "how India and Pakistan toured Sri Lanka to show their solidarity when Australia and West indies refused to play in Sri Lanka in the 1996 Wills World Cup."

It was an ambitious manoeuvre from the board. The BCCI has not been shy to impose itself on SLC in the past two years, but here was an attempt to cast the most powerful cricket board in the world as the stranded - even pitiable - neighbour.

Things are now very different in both countries to their state 18 years ago, but at least in one measure SLC have honoured the spirit of 1996: the breakneck speed at which the board moved to volunteer Sri Lanka for the tour outstripped even the most frenzied Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana opening stand. Less than two hours after West Indies' exit from their India tour was made official, SLC had, according to a press release, consulted all major office bearers, team management, coaching staff, selectors, and signed their side up for the series.

Rubbing on India when they need a friend is expected to pay well down the line, of course, and if SLC can manage to have the 2015 Test tour switched around to be played in Sri Lanka, this whole arrangement might even be a financial triumph for the board. But it is a move, nevertheless, that has put Sri Lanka's cricketers in a difficult place. An ODI tour of India is among the toughest assignments in cricket, and having barely had a net session since August, the team feels as if they have been yanked out from the cold, had a gun shoved in each set of hands, and shipped off to the frontlines.

Players and the new head coach have spent much of the past two weeks talking down the importance of winning on this tour. India may not be much like Australia and New Zealand, but it is a chance to put fringe players under pressure and get a gauge on their technique and mettle, Marvan Atapattu has said. Angelo Mathews, has made similar comments, but has been keen to suggest his team feels under-prepared. Sri Lanka have dialled down their expectations for this tour, but still, it must be disconcerting for professional sportsmen to approach a high-profile series knowing their chances of outright victory are not as good as they could be.

Sri Lanka have spoken of the room for individual progress on this tour, but equally, there is room for individual setbacks as well. Lacking Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath, the bowling appears brittle, as laid out by the India A batsmen, who plundered 382 from 50 overs in the practice match. Sri Lanka were clearly experimenting in that game, having used 10 bowlers and played 15 men, but they would have felt more comfortable if more wickets had been gleaned, or at least, if fewer frontline bowlers travelled at over seven runs an over.

Nuwan Kulasekara has already been short of rhythm this year, having gone his last seven ODIs without a wicket. Now suddenly the most experienced man in the attack, he is saddled with more responsibility on what might be some of the flattest international tracks he has bowled on this year. There are plenty of ODIs after this series in which players low on confidence might regain their form, but there remains the possibility that the India tour is not just unhelpful to the World Cup effort, it may even be counter-productive for some players.

There is irony in the way the series has come about. West Indies withdrew from their tour because of the players' pay dispute with their board, but were replaced by a side which has an annual standoff with their own administration, and divisions between players and officials play out often and in public.

Sri Lanka have so far managed to honour their international commitments through this internal strife partly because even top-level cricket in the country retains an amateur streak, where former players like Sanath Jayasuriya can broker immediate peace between parties, and the pride of playing for Sri Lanka retains considerable value. At each contracts loggerhead, the players have never refused to take the field - it is the board that threatens to keep them off it. To not play for Sri Lanka is viewed, on some level, as betrayal.

So as the team embarks on a tour they are not visibly thrilled about, it is this old-fashioned amateur spirit, that they must rouse again to make headway in India. Underdone, and outgunned, they must rely on effort, attitude and intelligence to stand a chance against their opposition. Maybe the board was on to something when it invoked 1996.