The pressure is very much on the Sri Lankans with the bowlers getting plenty of humiliation having taken for three consecutive big totals by the Indians. The batsmen are now feeling the heat as well having failed to counter India’s 600-plus total on a good batting track at Kanpur. Sri Lanka have dropped Ajantha Mendis after getting clobbered in the second Test and he just couldn’t hold onto any consistent lengths. The visitors are likely to bring in swing bowler Nuwan Kulasekara in place of him.

For Sri Lanka, the aging Muttiah Muralidaran will continue to be a big worry. The off spinner for once has been really struggling to bowl six good balls in an over. Like never before, Murali has been dropping the ball too short which has been failing him in sustaining any sort of pressure on the batsmen. The Lankans were delighted when left arm swing bowler Chanaka Welegedara shook the Indian top order on the first day morning of the Ahmedabad Test taking three wickets. But since that Test, the Indian batsmen have done their homework against him and know quite well which way the ball is swinging.

India will remain upbeat despite losing Gautam Gambhir in this Test. Gambhir’s replacement – Murali Vijay is a class of his own and should be able to deal with any kind of bowler. The hosts are surely going to retain the same XI except for Vijay in for Gambhir. India will be looking to do everything to prevent Sri Lanka from tasting their first ever test win in their country. India’s problem has been Zaheer Khan as the left armer had struggled with his rhythm. Zaheer has been bogged down by plenty of no-balls in the last test.

The pitch at the Brabourne Stadium is expected to be a sportive one. It will not be a cakewalk for the batsmen. There could be some nice carry and pace on this track to help both the pacers and spinners. Swing is expected to be the key factor in this Test Match because of the venue being very close to the sea. Evening time could see plenty of action for the pacers. Sri Lanka have Nuwan Kulasekara to take full advantage of the humid conditions while India have a better bowler in Sreesanth who has that brisk pace to complement his seam and swing bowling.

Live Scores along with Ball by Ball Commentary of this 3rd Test at Mumbai can be followed at www.cricketmove.com.

Misbah-ul-Haq is the replacement of Skipper Younis Khan who had opted out of the NZ tour following a disastrous Cool and Cool Cup Series in Abu Dhabi. Pakistan now has as many as 18 players in its Test Squad.

The 35-year-old Misbah-ul-Haq will most probably get into the playing XI straightaway and making way for him could be either Khurram Manzoor or Imran Farhat. There is a lot of pressure on Pakistan to win the second Test at Basin Reserve after losing the first Test at Dunedin by 32 runs.

Replacing Gautam Gambhir is most probably going to be another specialist opener Murali Vijay from Tamil Nadu. The right handed Vijay had played one Test so far which was against Australia. The third and final Test at Mumbai is to be played at the Brabourne Stadium from the 2nd of December.

India’s Squad for third Test at Mumbai : MS Dhoni (Captain and Wicket Keeper), Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Murali Vijay and S Badrinath.

South Africa had won the toss and batted first, a move that clearly backfired. The hosts were not just losing wickets but were also struggling to keep the scoreboard moving with Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan combining well with Anderson. Only Alviro Petersen could stand up against the English attack to score 51 from 79 balls (with 5 fours) to take his team into three figures. The Proteas were bowled out in 36.5 overs with Anderson finishing with 10-3-23-5. Tim Bresnan suffocated the batsmen with his 8-2-15-1 while Broad and Collingwood took two wickets each.

England had a cakewalk reaching the target in 31.2 overs at the loss of three wickets. Opener Jonathan Trott played the sheet anchor scoring an unbeaten 52 from 77 balls with 7 fours. Skipper Andrew Strauss made a patient 32 to seal the chase with an opening stand of 74.

Windies were bowled out in their first innings for 228 which lasted for only 63 overs. Ricky Ponting enforced the follow on and the Windies were again bowled out cheaply with their second innings lasting hardly two sessions. Ben Hilfenhaus was named as the Man of the Match for taking a total of five wickets.

New Zealand resumed the final day at 147 for 8 and could add up just 5 more runs despite having Grant Elliott unbeaten at the end of Day four. Umar Gul finished the Kiwi innings taking the wickets of O’Brien and Elliott to leave his team a target of 251.

The hosts straightaway had Pakistan on the backfoot  removing the openers cheaply. They got one more wicket in Fawad Alam before the lunch break and Pak was at a shaky 53 for 3 at the break with Yousuf and Umar Akmal at the crease. Chris Martin provided an important breakthrough by ending Skipper Mohammad Yousuf’s stay for 41 and also a 71-run stand. Umar Akmal kept the fight going with Shoaib Malik (32) and the runs kept flowing before the former got done in by a short ball again.

At Tea, Pakistan was at 165 for 5 with the Akmal brothers at the crease and their side hoping for a repeat of their fighting partnership in the first innings. Shane Bond made sure that the Akmals did not run away with the game by taking a return catch offered by Umar to reduce Pak to 195 for 6. That was the moment for New Zealand and they seized it with both ends taking the remaining four wickets for 21 runs. The important wicket of Kamran Akmal (27) was taken by Iain O’Brien.

It was a perfect team effort from the Kiwi bowlers with Bond, O’Brien taking three wickets each while Martin and Vettori taking two each. Shane Bond picked up the Man of the Match.

England in their chase were bowled out for 242 in 41.3 overs with Wayne Parnell capturing five wickets. The top scorer for the tourists was Paul Collingwood with 86 which had three sixes.

Australia added about 160 runs on the second day before declaring their innings just before Tea. Marcus North, the overnight batsman went onto score 79 while Nathan  Hauritz scored a maiden fifty. Windies started in a rapid manner smashing 41 on the board in the six overs before Tea but after the break lost their way totally. Hilfenhaus got rid of a dangerous Gayle on 31 which began a batting collapse. The other pacers followed him and Windies found themselves at 96 for 5 inside 30 overs.

The Australian bowlers got good pace off the wicket which caused the downfall of the West Indian batsman. Chanderpaul was one of them as an inswinger from Siddle skidded through to strike the pad in a shuffle across the stumps.

Zaheer Khan provided the perfect start for India this morning by bouncing out Angelo Mathews in the second over of the day’s play. He along with Sreesanth lost the plot though to be replaced with spin at both ends. India had to wait for about an hour before Harbhajan Singh found a way to spin one through the bat pad gap of Prasanna Jayawardene (29) from round the sticks. Harbhajan’s off break broke the 6th wicket stand of 61.

Harbhajan Singh got one more wicket when the left handed Rangana Herath missing a sweep to be lbw and Muttiah Muralidaran (29 from 11 balls) too missed a sweep but to get bowled. Pragyan Ojha was the bowler to dismiss Murali. India had to come back after lunch to take the remaining two wickets and the match was finished when no.11 Chanaka Welegedara was caught and bowled off a leading edge by Pragyan Ojha.  Before than Yuvraj Singh broke the frustrating 9th wicket partnership by trapping Mendis with an arm ball. Samaraweera stayed unbeaten on 78 (from 123 balls with 11 fours). Sri Lanka were bowled out for 269 in less than 66 overs.

Sreesanth was given the Man of the Match for taking six wickets yesterday. Incidentally this is the 100th win for India in Test Matches.