If Dhoni gets to play more balls during the middle overs against De Silva and score some runs, it will only boost his confidence.But that could be a bit unfair on Dinesh Karthik, who didn&Sewing Notebook for sale39;t get to face too many balls against Bangladesh in their last game..So they might have a lot to play for as a pole position and a possible semi-final against a New Zealand team on a downward spiral will be more welcoming than facing a dangerous England which is on an upswing. But with the top position on the points charts in line, Kohli may just be tempted to go with at least one of them if not both.Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga, Jeevan Mendis, Dhananjaya De Silva, Kasun Rajitha, Isuru Udana, Suranga Lakmal, Milinda Siriwardana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Thisara Perera, Avishka Fernando.In this backdrop, there cannot be a better opposition than Sri Lanka for Dhoni to check his bat swing at the death overs when Lasith Malinga will be firing in at the block-hole or bowl his variation of slower deliveries.Sri Lankan off-spinner Dhananjaya # de Silva has been pretty economical, going at sub-5 rate in the matches that he has played.Squads:India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav.

In all the matches so far, Dhoni has managed only 47 runs in 81 balls against the spinners, his widely accepted weakness against the slower bowlers during middle overs coming to the fore.Rohit has scored two ODI double hundreds against this attack and it will be intimidating for the likes of Isuru Udana. They will bank on Malinga's intelligence gathered from the Mumbai Indians dressing room to break the 'hitman code'.Vice-captain Rohit Sharma, with 544 runs that include record-equalling four tons, has been the stand-out player and skipper Virat Kohli, with five half-centuries and 400 plus aggregate, has also had a good World Cup but perhaps not exceptional by his standards.Vijay Shankar's replacement Mayank is already here but his best friend KL Rahul, with a couple of fifties, has ensured his place at the top of the order alongside Rohit, who would be gunning for a fifth World Cup hundred.The middle-order puzzle has remained unsolved and it has increasingly looked that Indian team management has been heavily dependent on Plan A, which is a success from their top-order.India's fast bowlers, led by Jasprit Bumrah (14) and well supported by Mohammed Shami (14 wickets), would have ideally liked some rest before semi-finals.No one more than captain Kohli will like his "guiding light" to succeed as his role will be immense should India remain in the competition for the final next Sunday. And it could turn out to be an interesting ploy if the former captain bats at number four, while the power hitters like Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya play their natural game down the order.Already assured of the second spot and a last-four spot, a win against Sri Lanka can take Virat Kohli's men to the top of the points table provided Australia lose their final game against the already ousted South Africa.Leeds: A wobbly middle order has been a cause of concern despite the winning run and India would be desperate for the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni to find some form ahead of the semifinal when they take on Sri Lanka in their last preliminary World Cup clash here Saturday.But the Sri Lanka game is also one such encounter where Indians can breathe a bit easy and check out some other combinations, including giving the fiery Ravindra Jadeja, some game time ahead of the last four clash.However, this could prompt Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri to bring back Kedar Jadhav in the middle-order for his off-breaks.Dimuth Karunaratne may fancy using his left-arm spinner Milinda Siriwardana knowing Dhoni's problems against slow left-arm orthodox bowlers.Kohli till now hasn't shown any inclination of pushing Dhoni up the order beyond number five.Jadeja is the only player, apart from the just joined Mayank Agarwal, who hasn't yet got a game but it is unlikely to happen considering there are too many left-handers in the Lankan line-up.

Today, I am a profoundly different being, unable to return to the ignorance of teenhood, and feel a deep connection with Afghans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and anyone else who has a commitment to speaking truth to power.Much has been made of the uncanny similarities between Pakistan’s ongoing Cricket World Cup campaign and the ultimately successful side captained by the current prime minister in 1992. Pakistan is of course home to arguably the biggest Afghan refugee population in the world, the status of which continues to engender substantial controversy in the Pakistani polity. Cue Imran Khan’s famous cornered tiger’s mantra. I was discovering my anti-establishment self, but I had as yet not been exposed to revisionist narratives of Pakistan’s political economy and history.But scaling up, the imperative of truth and reconciliation cannot be denied — our history books still require rewriting and there must be a serious reckoning with the exclusionary nature of official nationalism and Pakistan’s political economy more generally (both causes of the eastern wing’s secession).

A few wins later Pakistan were world champions. Yet for as long as this policy has remained intact, it has caused incredible pain and suffering to Afghans, and to generations of Pakhtuns on our own side of the Durand Line. Those who call for truth and reconciliation are right to reject a never-ending spiral of hate and suspicion.When Pakistan plays Afghanistan in the World Cup, perhaps such propaganda will subside for a few hours, and we can be reminded that healing is the only way for societies to move on from the realpolitiking of states. For me personally — and I daresay at least some others in this land of the pure — the fact that the World Soft Cover Notebook for sale Cup schedule has thrown up must-win matches with Afghanistan and Bangladesh engenders a gamut of emotions that transcend just a desire for victory.This too is a story full of pain and suffering, and successive generations of Bangladeshis have certainly imbibed their fair share of pain given that their country’s official historiography emphasises bloody national liberation. Large parts of the country remain in the throes of violence, after over four decades of virtually uninterrupted war.By arrangement with Dawn.In the days after the World Cup is over, we Pakistanis will not recall the games with Afghanistan and Bangladesh more than any other.That Afghanistan is playing a Cricket World Cup is itself a remarkable feat. We will celebrate a win, and lament a loss. The fact that social and corporate media alike are awash with conspiracy theories about foreign intelligence agencies — Afghan and otherwise — confirms that much has yet to change.Sadly, recent events suggest that young people who seek to move on from the history of endless war and indoctrination are still considered a threat to Pakistan’s “security”. One hopes that whatever happens, these two games kick-start a long process of healing that all players desperately need. It is remarkable that almost 50 years after the fact, the majority of Pakistanis — who were of course born long after the secession of the eastern wing — are virtually clueless about the shared histories of Pakistan and Bangladesh, and particularly what drove Bengali-majority East Pakistan to move on from the project of Pakistani nationhood. During the 1992 World Cup campaign, I was a teenager growing up as part of the Pakistani diaspora. We will know in a few days whether the current vintage will repeat the dose, but it is indicative of how far professional sport, cricket included, has evolved in the ensuing three decades that the teams Pakistan must beat to have a chance of winning the tournament are Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Most significantly, the establishment has long coveted so-called “strategic depth” in Afghanistan. The two countries weren’t even on the roster in 1992. It is another matter whether the moral force being exerted by brave and principled voices of peace in both Afghanistan and Pakistan will compel those who wield power to truly move on from the past.

Then too the team had a pretty dismal start and Pakistani fans had given up on it halfway through the tournament.And then there is Bangladesh. Many believe that our strategic planners have now abandoned the hare-brained desire to simulate a sovereign country as a fifth province.For most Pakistanis, it scarcely matters who we have to get past to keep the victory march alive. Yet ordinary Bangladeshis and Pakistan can find much common cause.