The second leg of the round-robin league stage in the Micromax Cup tri-series will see the Sri Lankans look to get back in the tournament in the fourth game against New Zealand. Currently, both New Zealand and Sri Lankan have one win each, but the Kiwis had won the game with a bonus point. 
Sri Lanka will not go into the game without a lot of practice, after having spent a lot of time embroiled in the controversy surrounding Suraj Randiv’s no-ball. Randiv had deliberately bowled the no-ball to prevent the batsman from scoring his 100 and since then, the Sri Lankan team has been panned from various quarters, including their own cricket board. 
New Zealand, on the other hand, have had a five-day break to recover from the back-to-back games that they had to play in the series. This would have given the time to think about their mistakes in the game against Sri Lanka and how can they prevent a repetition. Having said that, New Zealand were greatly advantaged by the track for the first game when there was enough green on it for someone to confuse it to be a New Zealand pitch. The same was not repeated in the game against Sri Lanka and the slow nature of the pitch meant that the side was not at their best.
The Kiwis will not get the grass again, and that will mean that they will start off on the back-foot.
Having said that, with all the trouble that the Sri Lankans have had in the last couple of days, it could just even things up a little and make it interesting for the fans.
From the team changes’ point of view, a lot will depend on the decision that Sri Lanka take with respect to Randiv and the other couple involved – Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara. One gets the sense that both the senior players will feature in the game, and as will Randiv – till the Sri Lankan comes out with the decision stating the further course of action. The rest of the side should remain the same for the Lankans.
New Zealand will also have a question or two regarding their selection. They have not had the best of batting in the two games except Ross Taylor and Scott Styris in the first and a 50 by BJ Watling. The top-order comprising of Martin Guptill and Watling needs to take up more responsibility by batting through the first 10 or 12 overs without losing too many wickets before they start scoring the runs. Wickets will be the key for the Kiwis and that is how they will need to approach the innings.