India will again be expected to be at its ruthless best when it takes on a Sri Lanka, which has hit the nadir in both form and confidence, in the second ODI here on Thursday.
After a lopsided Test series, the script did not change much in the first match, where India steamrollered the opposition by nine wickets.
It is tough to foresee any changes to the Indian playing XI. Virat Kohli will resist the urge to chop and change too much.
It is a similar scenario here as well. At Dambulla, India didn’t prefer to go in with either two leg-spinners or two left-arm spinners, thus forming the Chahal-Patel’s orthodox leg break-left arm spin combination.
The ODI wickets in Sri Lanka do not afford the luxury of playing three spinners. Unless the wicket here is exceptionally dry, Kuldeep Yadav can be expected to be left out again, along with Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur.
It will be interesting if Kohli shuffles his batting order to give K.L. Rahul and Kedar Jadhav some batting time.
There have been questions raised about Sri Lanka’s team selection policies, including leaving out an attacking batsman like Dinesh Chandimal.
This has set tongues wagging that all is not well in the Sri Lankan dressing room and that the coach and captain are being over-ridden by others. Lankan coach Nic Pothas has openly questioned the decision to leave out Chandimal.
Sri Lanka needs to win two ODIs in this series to make sure West Indies does not overhaul it in the rankings and gain automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup before the September 30 deadline.
The host, which needs more responsibility and stability in its batting ranks, could look to bring back Chandimal, if only to quieten down the heated atmosphere surrounding the team’s dismal performances. It is tough to see who will be left out as the top-order did well enough to put the Indian attack under pressure.
The teams (from): India: Virat Kohli (capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Shardul Thakur.
Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga (capt.), Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Chamara Kapugedera, Milinda Siriwardana, Malinda Pushpakumara, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan, Thisara Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lasith Malinga, Dushmantha Chameera, and Vishwa Fernando.
Match starts at 2.30 p.m. IST