Micromax Asia Cup 2010: Advantage Sri Lanka?

Yes, it might seem a bit premature but the fact remains that Sri Lanka are pretty much unbeatable at home. Their record in both, the ODIs and the test matches is so good that it is hard to believe that any of the other teams would be able to beat them in the league matches. Further, what makes the Lankans such a potent force is that their bowling is well-suited to the prevalent conditions. For starters, the likes of Kulusekera can bowl slow, medium-pacers that are the best option for the slightly sluggish pitch conditions here in Dambulla and the neighboring venues. On the other hand, young spinners in the side, led by Murali will ensure that the batsmen aren't able to take much liberties during the middle overs. Even the fill-up bowlers like Angelo Matthews have showed in yesterday's match against Pakistan that these Lankan bowlers know how to manipulate the conditions to their advantage. In comparison, Pakistan's bowling line-up seems full of comeback bowlers while India just doesn't have a semblance of a pace battery or a spin attack.

After Test-match glory, India's poor going in T20s is re-surfacing

It might have been largely unnoticed owing to India’s decent ODI status and their extremely improved test rankings, but their showing in the T20s has been on the downslide ever since they became champions at the inaugural T20 World Championship. It is hard to pinpoint the reason for this but it seems that the bowling department isn't able to come good, as there are no seamers who can hit the block-hole with regularity.
It is precisely the same reason, turned opposite, that is working for Pakistan’s success as the current World Champions of T20 and their continued success in this format. With Umar Gul and Mohammed Aamer bowling a good, yorkish length repeatedly and with Ajmal able to fox-out the batsmen, scoring runs against them isn't very easy. Similar is the case with the Lankans, who have Malinga and Kulusekera who generally are adept at bowling tight overs when the batsmen are going crazy. The same cannot be said about India wherein they have more line-and-length bowlers who are also handicapped in terms of bowling some pacey, short-stuff that can curtail the run making.