IND v SL, 3rd ODI, Preview: Hosts favourites in the decider as Sri Lanka chase history once again

India and Sri Lanka will lock horns for one final time in the ongoing three-match ODI series in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. The momentum is with the Men in Blue as they had trounced the visitors by 142 runs in the second game in Mohali. The team from the emerald isle experienced the similar proceedings they have endured all year after a magnificent show in the first game of the series. However, India are the firm favourites to win the series and stamp their authority over the opponents to end the year on a high in the 50-overs format.

Sri Lankan bowlers were literally annihilated by Rohit Sharma in the second ODI as they leaked 392 runs in 50 overs. They had no plans whatsoever to the assault from the Indian batsmen and were caught off guard completely in the final 10 overs of the innings. Suranga Lamal, the chief tormentor of the first match, was taken apart quite brutally and Nuwan Pradeep too conceded over 100 runs in his ten overs. They would love to improve on their bowling performances in the decider if Sri Lanka stands to have any chance in the game.

The spinners too were highly ineffective and though they didn’t bowl too badly, the skipper would be expecting more from them. Thisara Perera too needs to lead from the front and live up to his all-rounder tag now. The batting department has lacked the bite apart from Angelo Mathews who scored his second century of the tour in the second ODI. He will have to continue batting the same way and would also need some support from the top order to pull off an upset in Visakhapatnam.

India, on the other hand, is suddenly looking like the strongest team after capitulating in Dharamsala just a week ago. Rohit Sharma’s scintillating and brutal batting won them the game in the first half itself and the onus will be once again on him as the middle-order remains untested. Shreyas Iyer proved he belongs to international cricket with a brilliant 80 but Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey are still finding their feet in the series. Early fall of wickets and Sri Lanka would once again believe that they can fold India quickly.

The bowlers are on a roll in the home season as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have performed their roles to the perfection. The all-rounder Hardik Pandya has also proved his ability in both the departments. The spinners Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal were a bit expensive in the last game though the latter picked three wickets in his spell.

Toss: India won the toss and opted to field

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Danushka Gunathilaka, Upul Tharanga, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Asela Gunaratne, Thisara Perera(c), Sachith Pathirana, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, MS Dhoni(w), Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal

Thisara Perera: Really good wicket to bat on. We would like to put runs on board and put them under pressure. (On the dew factor) Yes, dew could come in later but it’s a good batting track and we have to bat well. We have two spinners, let’s see how things go on. (On what went wrong in Mohali) We didn’t bowl well at all last game, such things happen. Hopefully we can do things right today and do something special. One change, Lahiru Thirimanne is out and he is replaced by Sadeera Samarawickrama.”

Rohit Sharma: “We are gonna bowl first here. Good conditions, will be hot initially but as the day goes on, climate gets better. Keeping the dew factor in mind, we want to chase. (Whether the double ton has sunk in) It has finally. Was a great day for me and Team India as well. The win was important to stay in the competition. So in those circumstances, I would rate the knock highly. Was a good win, everyone chipped in nicely. We hope to do the same here in Vizag as well. (On the team’s turnaround in Mohali) I keep saying that this team has a lot of character and has often taken responsibility in tough situations. We were put under pressure in the first game and responded well in the second. The message was to go out there and have fun. Unfortunately, Washington is sick and Kuldeep Yadav comes in.”

Playing Combinations

India

There is no reason to change the winning combination as the team had a near-perfect game in Mohali. The openers were amongst the runs as the newbie Iyer also looked in fine touch. The top three will once again look to maximise their chances to do the bulk of the scoring. Karthik and Pandey might be considered as the weak links of the line-up which hasn’t performed so far in the series. The bowling line-up also looks settled as Chahal might play a crucial role as the other leg-spinner Amit Mishra scalped a fifer at the same venue last year against the Kiwis in the decider. The surface generally tends to help the tweakers in Visakhapatnam and India might be tempted to play Kuldeep Yadav in place of Sundar.

Sri Lanka

The huge morale-boosting victory in Dharamsala proved to be a one-off for the visitors as they repeated same mistakes in Mohali. They might make a few changes to the line-up and drop the struggling Lahiru Thirimanne. They might also promote Niroshan Dickwella who has batted well opening the innings for Sri Lanka this year. The bowling looks depleted and might include a spinner at the expense of Pradeep given the nature of the surface at the venue. Angelo Mathews needs to bowl more overs to hold the one end, unlike the only opening burst which he has provided currently in the first two matches.

Focus will be on:

Yuzvendra Chahal (India)

Chahal scalped three wickets in Mohali which was a flat deck and is expected to play a bigger in the all-important decider. Mishra had dismantled New Zealand line-up in the decider last year and the hosts would be feeling that the young leggie is good enough to replicate the same again. He was taken for runs by Mathews in the last match and would look to be economical as well time around. Chahal would also be aiming to perform in the last ODI of the year which has been excellent personally for him.

Niroshan Dickwella (Sri Lanka)

Dickwella has not been able to stamp his authority on the Indians after frustrating them in the longest format of the game. He has embraced the new role middle-order but bad starts have not allowed him to play his natural game. He would like to open the innings again as the openers have failed miserably so far to provide a good start. His quickfire 50-60 runs at the top could well give the much-needed momentum to the visitors in the big game on Sunday. The left-hander is due for a big knock after being missed out on a few opportunities on this tour.

Stat Attack

2 – Rohit scoring his maiden ODI hundred as captain in his 2nd innings was the joint 2nd earliest an Indian captain managed to score an ODI ton. Sachin Tendulkar scored on his captaincy debut while Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli also scored a hundred in their 2nd innings.

102 – MS Dhoni continues to chase 10,000 runs in ODI cricket as he is only 102 runs away from the milestone.