There are those who still remember how five months ago, Chennai batsman Subramaniam Badrinath's lower-order batting heroics earned India a series levelling win at Rangiri Stadium in the heart of Sri Lanka's cultural centre.It had come after Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted how he had misread the pitch conditions in the opening game of the 2008 five-match series and had most likely cost his side the opening match. Badrinath made his debut when Gautam Gambhir picked up a neck injury problem. Since then India have moved on, Badrinath is no longer part of the squad and as India gear for the first game of this impromptu stop-gap series at Dambulla, the tourists will feel more settled as a squad. Especially with Virender Sehwag and Gambhir at the top of the order.And as India start rebuilding their squad for CWC11, Dhoni also recalled a few words from the ODI series India played here last August by saying how he expected reverse swing and early spin in the Dambulla conditions.India have come on this tour with five seam and swing bowlers and a couple of spinners. It is felt they will learn from the experience. But Dhoni is as collective and cool under pressure as he is when facing a curious media. While memories of last year's comments are fresh enough, he offered a big smile when the subject of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis surfaced again."I thought I had dealt with that one (in Colombo),' was the polite smile. 'But they are different bowlers. Murali is fast through the air and off the pitch. He can turn on any sort of surface and loves Sri Lankan pitches, 'What else can I say? Even when he bowls fast he gets some purchase out of the surface. If it was any other spinner apart from Murali and Mendis, they wont' have achieved so much turn you can say. Being in a good position, you can exploit what turn there is."Murali is only three wickets away from overtaking Pakistan's Wasim Akram as the highest wicket-taker in ODI history. Last Saturday he collected his 500th in the Lahore game where Pakistan's batting succumbed in disarray after the Sri Lanka new-ball attack of Nuwan Kalusekara and Thilan Thushara Mirando.His eighteen wickets at an economical rate spread over the last eleven games has catapulted him to the unlikely level of second in the current ODI rankings, and head of Murali, surprising many. But as this comes from consistency and his ability to swing the ball around in a controlled manner, he has been preferred to Chaminda Vaas.In the concrete bowl in Lahore against Pakistan, his tight, disciplined accuracy earned him three for seventeen in seven overs and the deceptive delivery that bowled Shahid Afridi for a three ball duck was as embarrassing moment as Afridi will experienced.In Dambulla, the breeze is always strong, and as Dhoni and others will remember, ball will swing throughout the day. He can also expect a fair bit (of movement) in the surface at the start. It is why winning the toss is quite crucial to both sides.
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