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Bluffmaster

Hundreds of millions will spend a sleepless Friday night before their television sets as the team that could be dubbed 'commercial favourites' fights to stay alive in a World Cup that seems ages old but has in fact barely begun. "What happens to India if they lose?" Rahul Dravid was asked the day before. "We're not even thinking about the possibility," he replied.

No match in the first round of this tournament has been invested with this much significance. Not even death puts things into perspective for the Indian fan or the media. Besides, the financial viability of the tournament for a huge range of enterprises rides on Indian success, a point the players are not allowed to forget for a moment. The pressure on Dravid's team is much more than merely that of their increasingly well-oiled opponents.

Sri Lanka, by contrast, have little reason to tinker, even if it means that a big-match player such as Marvan Atapattu must sit out. It is a side brimming with belief. The proof has been in their play but, just in case it was not emphatic enough, their captain Mahela Jayawardene also talked the talk. "Bangaldesh did not meekly surrender to us," he asserted after Wednesday's wholesome victory, "we made them surrender." And if India "showed us a few things when we were in India, it is now our turn to show them."

For the first time in this leg a full house is anticipated at the Queen's Park Oval. Nobody could have asked for a more keenly-awaited encounter. So what are u Guys waiting for ..... Just ...........Bet On

India (likely) 1 Sourav Ganguly, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Irfan Pathan, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Rahul Dravid (capt), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Munaf Patel

Sri Lanka (likely) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Chamara Silva, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Farveez Maharoof, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Lasith Malinga