Thiruvananthapuram: India captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and elected to bat first against Sri Lanka in third and final ODI of the series at the Greenfield International Stadium here on Sunday.
India have already won the series, thanks to victories in Guwahati and Kolkata. A win in Thiruvananthapuram will give India a 3-0 series triumph, having won T20I series 2-1 earlier in the month.
After winning the toss, Rohit said India have brought in off-spin all-rounder Washington Sundar and in-form batter Suryakumar Yadav in place of rested duo of Hardik Pandya and Umran Malik, which means India have three frontline spinners and two fast-bowling options.
“Looks a good pitch, try to make the most of it. Still a lot of areas we can keep improving, today gives up a chance to perfect those. We want to play close to a perfect game as we’ll never be playing the perfect game,” he said.
Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka said he would have batted first, too. He also informed that Sri Lanka have also made two changes to the playing eleven:- middle-order batter Ashen Bandara and leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay come in for all-rounders Dhananjaya de Silva and Dunith Wellalage.
“Environment here feels very similar to Sri Lanka. We have been good at the start but batsmen haven’t been able to capitalize after that, that’s something we have to improve on,” he added.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj
Sri Lanka: Avishka Fernando, Nuwanidu Fernando, Kusal Mendis (wicketkeeper), Ashen Bandara, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (captain), Wanindu Hasaranga, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara
(IANS)
