Sri Lanka bat, Kasun Rajitha replaces Isuru Udana
Written by I Dig Sports
Published in
Cricket
Tuesday, 20 July 2021 02:29
Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat vs India
Sri Lanka won the toss and have chosen to bat first at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, just as they had done in the first ODI.
They made one change, bringing in Kasun Rajitha for Isuru Udana in a pacer-for-pacer swap, while India retained the same XI that had given them a handsome victory in the first game. This is a must-win match for Sri Lanka, since a loss will ensure India have a winning lead in the three-ODI series.
The second ODI is taking place on a fresh pitch, which had a dry and hard look at toss time. Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka reckoned it would play better than the surface for the first game had.
"We are going to bat first," Shanaka said. "The wicket looks pretty good, I think it's better than the last game we played. We got a good start and we finished well, so we should consolidate in the middle part, not throw away wickets."
India captain Shikhar Dhawan praised his team's all-round effort in the first ODI, particularly the way Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan had batted, making his own job easier.
"I think our bowlers did a great job, the way they contained them to a 260 score," Dhawan said. "The wristspinners took wickets in the middle, which let us control the game. [My batting] totally depends on the situation. At the other end all the young boys were blazing and scoring at a high pace, so there was no need for me to go hard."
India won the first ODI by seven wickets, with 80 balls to spare, easily chasing down a target of 263.
Sri Lanka: 1 Avishka Fernando, 2 Minod Bhanuka (wk), 3 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 4 Dhananjaya de Silva, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Chamika Karunaratne, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Kasun Rajitha.
India: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Suryakumar Yadav, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.