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Newbies hold the key

A shell-shocked India face Sri Lanka in a crucial make-or-break match of the Asian Test Championships at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds here tomorrow.

India, who allowed Pakistan to recover from 26 for six and win the Calcutta Test by 48 runs in the opening match of the three-nation contest, have already suffered a setback with the non-availability of pace bowler Javagal Srinath.

The Indian spearhead, who took 13 wickets in the match and was joint 'man of the match' with Saeed Anwar, is being rested due to a shin problem.

The grassy SSC pitch would have been to the Indian speedster's liking. His absence allows Laxmi Ratan Shukla, an 18-year-old medium-pacer from Bengal, to make his Test debut.

India will be sporting a new-look fast bowling line-up with Delhi's 20-year-old left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra also set to make his debut.

The two youngsters are likely to join the experienced Venkatesh Prasad in forming the pace line-up, leaving leg-spinner and vice-captain Anil Kumble as the only recognised spinner.

India, who took only five bonus points from the Calcutta Test, need to win here to ensure their place in the final at Dhaka in a fortnight.

Their chances rely heavily on how the bowlers perform on the grassy surface, which is expected to help the seamers on the first two days before settling down to favour the batsmen.

The match will also be a Test for the Lankan batsmen who are playing their first Test in six months. Their last such engagement was in August when they vanquished England by ten wickets at the Oval. Since then, they have played in 16 one-day internationals and won only four.

Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga said that although he would miss the services of key spinner Muthiah Muralitharan and opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, it was no major concern.

''We need them for the World Cup. They should be 100 per cent fit by then,'' he said.

Ranatunga weighed his chances against India and said that it would turn out to be a good contest.

Sri Lanka are likely to blood 21-year-old left-arm pace bowler Ruchira Perera and recall former opening batsman Chandika Hathurusingha. The 30-year-old Hathurusingha returns to the team after four years as a late-order batsman and seamer.

The Lankans will go in with three seamers - Chaminda Vaas, Ruchira Perera and Hathurusingha and a spinner, either left-armer Niroshan Bandaratilake or off-spinner Ruwan Kalpage.

UNI