Gambhir, Yadav to sit out of last ODI

Various strategies took the visiting Sri Lankans by surprise quite early on in the series and the Indian team is now on track to becoming a "very good" outfit, coach Greg Chappell said on Friday.

"We took them by surprise quite early on from which they struggled to recover. Yes, the first two games (at Nagpur and Mohali) were very important," Chappell told a media conference, on the eve of the final match of the one-day series, which India leads 5-1.

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"We are not yet a great team, but we are on the way to become a very good outfit. But we can't afford to relax. You don't know what's lurking round the corner in the form of an injury or lack of form," he said.

Chappell said, as the series concludes the team will have many options for each position and the dilemma is rather whom to leave out.

"When we sit down to select the squad for the series against South Africa we are in a good situation. We have a dilemma over whom to leave out rather than whom to bring in," he said.

The Proteas are set to arrive in Mumbai in the early hours of Saturday to engage India in a best-of-five limited-overs international series, starting in Hyderabad on November 16.

Chappell was not too concerned about the lack of a big innings from team vice-captain Virender Sehwag, who has not scored a half century in the series despite getting solid starts in almost every match.

"Sehwag has contributed much more than with the bat. He is a good bowler, has been of great support to Rahul. Yes, he needs to score more runs too," Chappell said.

"The most pleasing aspect is that we have not depended on just one or two players to do well. In each game a different player has done the job for us which is what we are striving for," he added.

Captain Rahul Dravid, after announcing that the indisposed Gautam Gambhir and J P Yadav have been left out of the 13 for Saturday's match in keeping with the team's rotation policy, said his squad members are keen to disperse home with a 6-1 verdict over the islanders.

"We play every game to win. One of the challenges is to keep focus on winning each and every game and make the preparations accordingly. We are keen to put up a good show and let the better team on the day win," India's leading run-getter in the series said.

Dravid also took the chance to praise the coaching staff connected with the team for the success of youngsters Gambhir and Rudra Pratap Yadav straightaway after being included in the playing squad.

"The coaches need to be complimented for the way Gambhir and R P Singh were kept in good mental and physical shape even when they were not playing. This helped the youngsters to deliver when given a chance," the Indian skipper said.

Asked about the pitch for Saturday's match, Dravid said it appeared to be a good wicket that is expected to help the bowlers initially and then the batsmen.

He said the team has kept the right balance between pace and spin throughout the series, barring the Ahmedabad day-night clash, in which off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was rested and it was the lone match the home team lost so far.

"We have had a healthy balance between spin and pace and have always fielded two spinners except at Ahmedabad when we rested Harbhajan," he said, adding the entire team is pleased with the way the young pace bowlers too have risen to the challenge.

"It has been a good series for us and the most convincing victory margin that we have had for a long time," he concluded.