Dhoni keen to up pressure on Mendis

Mahendra Singh Dhoni drives en route to 76 not out in yesterday's 33-run win

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India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni wants his team to target Sri Lanka’s newest spin sensation, Ajantha Mendis, as they go in search of a series-clinching win in Colombo tomorrow.

Mendis, who only made his international debut in April, has flummoxed the India batsmen with his variety during the past two months, highlighted by his match-winning 6-13 in the final of the Asia Cup in July.

The 23-year-old followed that with 26 wickets in the three-Test series - Mendis’ first on the international stage - to earn himself the man-of-the-series award.

But Dhoni believes his batsmen have now seen enough of Mendis to start attacking the right-armer and put some pressure on him for the first time in his fledgling international career.

"It is more about him (Mendis). If he bowls a bad ball then punish him and build up pressure on him,” Dhoni said.

“If you continue to defend him then you know he will also be on top.”

India showed signs of their new-found attacking intent yesterday as they claimed a 33-run win in Colombo to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Mendis had leaked 55 runs from his first nine overs as the India batsmen, led by Dhoni’s 76 from 80 balls, looked to get after the spinner.

Dhoni eventually fell to Mendis, who took two wickets in his final over to finish with figures 3-56, but the captain believes his attacking philosophy was crucial in limiting Mendis’ threat.

"It is very important that whenever he bowled a bad bowl we will get runs out of them so that you know he (Mendis) gets under a bit of pressure," Dhoni said.

“Until now he was never under any sort of pressure. So he was bowling at his best.”

India went into yesterday's game with seven specialist batsmen and Dhoni said his side were likely to persevere with the plan in tomorrow's day-night match at the R Premadasa Stadium.

Dhoni admitted after the win in Colombo that the 238-tun target they set Sri Lanka was short of the target he expected from his batsman-heavy team.

And he has warned his top order they will need to contribute more on a wicket that should favour the batsmen.

"When you are playing with an extra batsman, you need to score over 250 runs to put pressure on the opposition team,” Dhoni said.

"On these sort of wickets, we need to click, especially the top-order batsmen. One out of the three or four (batmen) has to carry the innings and others can rotate around him.

“Only then can we achieve big scores in games like this.”