India vs Sri Lanka: Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana among five debutants in third ODI for Team India

Colombo: India handed ODI debut caps to five players in the third ODI against Sri Lanka, on Friday.

Visiting captain Shikhar Dhawan won the toss in the third match of the series and decided to bat first. As expected, head coach Rahul Dravid ensured game time for almost everyone in the squad as Nitish Rana, Rahul Chahar, Chetan Sakariya, Kishnappa Gowtham and Sanju Samson made their debuts.

As expected, head coach Rahul Dravid ensured game time for almost everyone in the India ODI squad. Image: @BCCI

Chahar and Samson have already played T20 Internationals for India. The sixth change in the side is pacer Navdeep Saini.

This is only the second instance in history when India handed debuts to five players in a 50-over match.

The only time when India had five debutants in an ODI was against Australia in December 1980 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground when spinner Dilip Doshi, Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Mumbai stylish batsman Sandeep Patil and Tirumalai Srinivasan made their debuts.

Left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan and Mumbai's Suryakumar Yadav had made their ODI debut in the first game at the same venue.

Praveen Jayawickrama, Akila Dananjaya and Ramesh Mendis are three changes in the Lankan side for the final match of the ODI series.

India have already sealed the three-game series 2-0.

India: Shikhar Dhawan(c), Prithvi Shaw, Sanju Samson(w), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka(c), Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka(w), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama.

With PTI inputs