Rex Clementine
in Guwahati
Having come so close to winning their first-ever bilateral series in India during the T-20 leg, Sri Lanka will now focus on giving enough exposure to the younger players whom they want to bring to the World Cup later this year in India.
This series is not part of the ICC World Cup Super League so it is sensible in trying out players whom they want to bring for the sport’s showpiece event. Sri Lanka’s next series in New Zealand counts for World Cup qualification and two wins in three games should get them to qualify automatically.
Dasun Shanaka wouldn’t be worrying too much about qualifications had his team not gone down to Afghanistan last month in the first ODI and the second game was washed out. They had also lost a game at home to Zimbabwe early last year and all these failures could come back to haunt them.
Young all-rounder Dunith Wellalage could feature heavily during the ODIs having been overlooked for the T-20 games. The rookie turned 20 yesterday and he is one of the brightest prospects to come through the under-19 side.
Sadeera Samarawickrama is also back in the squad. He had a prolific LPL and was unlucky not to get a game during the T-20 series.
It also remains to be seen how the selectors will handle Nuwanidu Fernando, who has been a prolific run scorer in domestic cricket.
Kasun Rajitha is the leader of the attack and Lahiru Kumara could share the new ball with him having missed the T-20s. Kumara had an extended net session yesterday and his extra pace could trouble the batsmen.
There’s also Dilshan Madushanka, who bowled a couple of unplayable spells but was torn apart in the last T-20 by Suryakumar Yadav. He will be backed as third seamer.
India yesterday pulled out seamer Jasprit Bumrah having earlier been named in the squad. Indian selectors seem to be not convinced that he is a hundred percent fit having returned to the side after injury. He’s expected to feature in the bilateral series against New Zealand that begins after the Sri Lankan series.
Virat Kohli, K.L. Rahul and captain Rohit Sharma too return to the side boosting the batting depth.
The teams will fly out to Calcutta for the second ODI and the last game will be played in Trivandrum on Sunday.
India (From):
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh.
Sri Lanka (From):
Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ashen Bandara, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Kasun Rajitha, Nuwanidu Fernando, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan and Lahiru Kumara.