We are yet to fire on all cylinders, but we have achieved our first objective of reaching the final of the Coca-Cola Cup. Though we are confident, having had a good record in finals recently, it will be far from easy, as India look to be on a roll.

When the chips were down and an early elimination appeared certain they pulled together to play some strong positive cricket. During their first three matches their batting flopped, but they have sorted out this aspect of their game and all the batsmen now have some runs under their belt.

Virender Shewag's innings was particularly impressive. He came out to bat with India chasing a large total to secure qualification. It was a do or die situation and he delivered when under pressure, taking the game away from New Zealand in one of the best ever innings I have seen.

He played good shots too - you certainly couldn't call it a lucky innings. Sure, he took some risks and these paid off, but he didn't offer a chance until he was on 98 and only had one other slice of luck, when he edged wide through the slips just moments after Stephen Fleming had removed them.

The New Zealand bowlers, who panicked a little during the onslaught, didn't bowl particularly well. The fast bowlers had bowled well throughout the tournament, but on this occasion they strayed on to his pads too often and gave Shewag some balls in the slot.

With the young ones like Shewag and Yuvraj Singh coming good in the last couple of games and the big guns - Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman - also in good touch, our main concern is naturally the Indian batting. The bowling has been consistent, but the batting is classy and a major threat. We have to put in a top fielding performance tomorrow.

The good news is that the Sri Lankan bowlers have played superbly so far - it's been the batsmen who have let the side down. We have different plans for each batsman and if the players can stick to those tactics then we will have an excellent chance.

The batting though will have to click too. In both games that we have lost, we only have ourselves to blame. In our second game against India at Premadasa we came unstuck, as we tried to post too high a total, and we should have overhauled India's moderate target at the SSC.

It's not that the batsmen are out of form. I, for example, started the tournament badly with four failures, but I never felt out of form or was worried about my technique. It was more a case of not having enough time to play myself in. In the first two games I was out playing my first attacking shot and that can happen to anyone.

Generally, I was feeling good and that finally showed with some runs at SSC. All the other batsmen, the top and middle order, have scored runs too, so it 's a matter of pulling everything together for the final big game.

We have done just that in recent times and I believe that's because of the spirit in the side, which allows us to relax. We treat it as just another game. If you get wound up about it then you put yourself under too much pressure and increase the chances of freezing. We will prepare as normal and have a team meeting tonight, in which we will focus on the basics.

There is a good atmosphere in the side and no one is going to blame you for failure. Sure, as professionals we have to take responsibility for our actions, but you cannot fear failure. We must not be afraid of trying things and taking risks. It's so important that the players, and the team, thinks freely and enjoys their cricket. If we do then we have a great chance tomorrow.

© CricInfo