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Preview: Ind vs SL (1st ODI): Men In Blue Eyeing For No.1 ODI Ranking
By CricShots - Dec 9, 2017 12:38 pm
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After five days of intense cricket in Delhi, the Sri Lankan cricket team can finally breathe easy in the cleaner environments of Himalayas. The pressure of the ODI series is upon them – an unending struggle of the recent past, and against an opponent that’s almost impossible to beat in recent times.

Sri Lanka’s recent ODI graph isn’t very impressive. There are three smudges of embarrassing 5-0 whitewashes plotted in three nations as a part of their 4/26 (wins/matches) scoreline in 2017 alone. On a 12-match losing streak currently, the tourists come into the series as clear underdogs. But now that no one’s looking, they can start rebuilding in the background under a new skipper, Thisara Perera.

Meanwhile, Team India has the numero uno position in sight (if they sweep the series), middle-order fine-tuning is their priority, and a grueling South Africa tour approaching – all adding more importance to this practice than previously thought. A bunch of cross-format players has been rested as a part of the rotation policy, giving those on the benches yet another opportunity to prove their worth and effectively building a bigger, better bench strength for project 2019.

Most of the players pick themselves, except the controversial No. 4 spot. Virat Kohli’s absence allows for a trial run of – Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer. That said, Karthik seems to be more suitable for the no.4 spot as he did reasonably well against New Zealand, and Pandey seems set to serve a longer punishment for wasting the chance with his poor shot selection.

Manish had been in masterful form though in the Ranji Trophy and that’d keep the others on their toes. The toss up between backing him or trying a promising yet uncapped Shreyas Iyer would likely decide the one-down spot.

Back after sustaining a curative surgery on his broken thumb, Asela Gunaratane will look to cement is spot while former captain Angelo Mathews’s return to form with a fighting century in Delhi will be crucial to the middle-order fortunes. A massive boost on the bowling front is that Mathews might deliver with the bowl as well, while a well-rested Nuwan Pradeep is back to share new-ball duties with Suranga Lakmal.

The central strip at the HPCA stadium has received a sufficient amount of sunlight during the day and duly covered before dew starts to set in the evening, and promises a run fest on Sunday.

Despite the fact that the temperature is a bit low in Dharamsala, air quality will be way better than Delhi. The match-timings for the day-nighter were revised taking into consideration the foggy weather in the mountainous region, and the due factor will play a crucial role for the toss winner.

Probable XIs

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan/Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav/Shreyas Iyer, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama/Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Asela Gunaratne, Thisara Perera (c), Chathuranga de Silva/Sachith Pathirana/Dushmantha Chameera, Akila Dhananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep.