With Sri Lanka high on batting confidence, save for the last match in Cuttack, another recovery is not entirely unthinkable, and the Indian team will have to ensure they don’t slip again, and finish the job in the first one-dayer at the Eden Gardens in almost three years. Stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag, at the helm once again because of MS Dhoni’s two-match ban due to slow over-rates, says his side will not forget their misadventure against the Aussies during Thursday’s face-off. “We won’t give up the lead easily, that’s for sure. We know we lost the series against Australia from 2-1 up. We’ve come here to win,” Sehwag said.

This will be the first time since Dhoni’s debut in 2004 that India will go into an ODI without him and Yuvraj Singh. As a result, Virat Kohli, set to play his first international in Kolkata, will have that much more responsibility on his young shoulders. And the Delhi batsman, who Sehwag described as a “growing cricketer”, has a great opportunity to come of age.

Local boy Manoj Tiwary has been drafted into the squad as a cover for Yuvraj, but has little chance of making the XI, unless there is a last-minute injury.

Opener Gautam Gambhir, in the middle of a great year in Tests, has been struggling of late in ODI cricket. The sequence from his last six innings — 32, 2, 11, 0, 8 and 6 — will be a matter of concern for the think-tank, but there is hope that he will finally come good because his touch is evident, even if his scores have dipped. On Wednesday, Gambhir looked solid in the nets, save when he seemed to be playing away from his body against Ishant Sharma.

In Cuttack, Sehwag had used his bowlers well, and bringing on Ashish Nehra as first-change had turned out to be a good ploy after the left-hand seamer had struggled in the first two matches bowling upfront. In Kolkata, too, he is expected to stick with this plan.

Up for a fight

For the visiting Sri Lankans, there has been little to show from this long tour so far, except for a T20 match and a nail-biting win in the Nagpur one-dayer. But they see their chances in India’s depleted line-up.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara has decided to bring back Sanath Jayasuriya for this match, giving his old warrior another chance. The rest of the Sri Lankan stalwarts — Sangakkara himself, Tilakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene — were conspicuous by their absence in Wednesday’s practice. This raised some concern initially, given that they have already lost the services of Thilan Thushara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando and Angelo Mathews, but coach Trevor Bayliss confirmed that the three seniors would definitely be in action on Thursday.

So far, the series has by and large been Dilshan versus India, with Jayawardene’s dip in form crippling the middle order, and the Lankans will be hoping the former skipper will make it count with the bat here.

Swing could be a factor at the Eden Gardens with parts of the stadium under construction, and the evening breeze likely to come into play. The dew, and a misty haze that usually descends on this ground in the evenings, can also make life difficult for the fielders, and bowling first may not be a bad option after winning the toss.

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SL players give security a slip

Kolkata: About half a dozen Sri Lankan cricketers, including skipper Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya, went out of the team hotel without informing the cops late on Tuesday night, said the city police chief on Wednesday.