West Indies tri-series 2013: Five reasons why Sri Lanka can win the final

India will be playing Sri Lanka for the 56th time in the last five years, but the familiarity will not come in the way of making the final of the tri-nation tournament an exciting contest.

Sri Lanka have had the misfortune of being involved in two rain-interrupted matches due to which they had to play cricket for three consecutive days, and that would have taken a bit out of their reserves of patience. They will need to recover to their best physical and mental state with the one day of rest that they have before they play India once again at the Port of Spain.

Sri Lanka have won two out of the four games they have played in the tournament. They will take confidence out of the massive victory they scored over India earlier in the tournament even though they slipped the second time they faced them in the last group game. However, it was rather unfortunate as the moisture gained by the surface due to the rain interruption changed the behaviour of the pitch, making it suitable for swing bowling. They need to put that loss behind as quick as possible.

Here is a list of five reasons why Sri Lanka can defeat India to win the tournament:

5. Favourable Conditions

The Sri Lankan spinners will be hoping to exploit the conditions that aid slower bowlers

Sri Lanka do not have a lot of pace in their bowling line-up, although that changes a little with the advent of Shaminda Eranga in the side. But they depend upon the slow-medium pace of Angelo Matthews, and the spin of Jeevan Mendis and Rangana Herath.

The surfaces have been rather slow with the ball stopping a little before coming onto the bat. The ball shows some initial lateral movement that the pace battery can exploit, but taking pace off the ball and employing variations will be preferred method in the middle overs.