In the series opener of the three-match ODI series between India and Sri Lanka, the Islanders took advantage of winning the toss and the seaming conditions at Dharamsala and produced an embarrassing defeat for teh hosts in the first ODI of the 3 match series.
Team India was bundled out for 112 and Sri Lanka effortlessly chased down the target losing with 7 wickets in hand and a plethora of balls. Rohit Sharma didn’t quite have a memorable captaincy debut he had in mind and will now look forward to giving it back to the Sri Lankans in the second ODI.
The second ODI of the series is scheduled to be played at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. Mohali pitch at Mohali usually offers the same assistance to pacers as the pitch in Dharamsala did and whichever team wins the toss, will want to bowl first in Mohali as well.
Team India might bring a change by bringing back Ajinkya Rahane in the playing XI to uphold the vulnerable batting order which was exposed on a seaming track in Dharamsala. He can play a crucial role in such playing conditions and India needs to be ready to face the similar conditions again.
Rohit Sharma’s leadership skills also need some improvement as his moves didn’t seem attacking in Dharamsala. He also needs to show some confidence in his spinners to even bowl in power play overs and if possible produce some wickets as well. Mohali has been a happy hunting ground for India, as they won their last match played at this venue against New Zealand in 2016, with Virat Kohli making 154*.
On the other hand, Islanders couldn’t be looking to make any changes in the squad as they say “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. While Rohit might want to take inspiration from this and lead India to a series-leveling win.
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Probable XIs:
India: 1 Rohit Sharma (c), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Dinesh Karthik, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.
Sri Lanka: 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Asela Gunaratne, 6 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 7 Thisara Perera (c), 8 Sachith Pathirana, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Akila Dananjaya, 11 Nuwan Pradeep.
