India v Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI- Sri Lanka Predicted XI

After upsetting India in Dharamshala, Thisara Perera & Co. now stand on the brink of creating history as they have the opportunity to become the first Sri Lankan side to clinch a bilateral series in India if they secure another victory over the Men in Blue in Mohali. That will be far from easy though as India would be toughened and determined having lost the first game in a humiliating fashion.

This will also be an opportunity for Perera to present himself as a potential long-term captain for Sri Lanka in limited-overs cricket. The conditions will be different in the PCA Stadium though as there won’t be as much seam movement as it was in Dharamshala, but the Mohali pitch always has a lot of carry. So any fast bowler who is prepared to bend his back will get something out of the pitch there. Here is Sri Lanka’s predicted XI for tomorrow’s game:

Openers (Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka)

Danushka Gunathilaka has visible weaknesses in his game. Whenever the ball is pitched up, he goes for expansive drives and is always a candidate for caught behind against the new ball. He, however, is a very effective player square of the wicket on the off side.

The knock of 49 that he played in Dharamshala would have given Upul Tharanga a lot of confidence because it came under testing conditions. He was in all sorts of trouble early on, but he hung in there and as the ball lost its shine a little bit, the drives started flowing off his bat. He is in good touch and would like to play another match-winning knock in the 2nd ODI.

Middle order (Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella)

Sri Lanka have the option of bringing Dhananjaya de Silva into the XI and slot him at 3, but they would probably like to give Thirimanne another go as the batting conditions were not the easiest in the previous game and dropping him for a failure in that game would be really harsh.

Mathews is a certainty in the XI and so is Dickwella. These two bring the X-factor in the middle order as they have different gears to explore in their batting and are capable of doing the job in any situation. Both have been hitting the ball well on this tour and Sri Lanka would be expecting significant contributions from them.

All-Rounders (Asela Gunaratne, Thisara Perera)

Gunaratne is making a comeback after an injury. He didn’t bowl in the first game but is a very useful bowler and if the need be can chip with a few handy overs. He bowls quickish off-spin and has that nag of picking crucial wickets out of nowhere. He is a clean striker of the ball as well and is a very dangerous batsman to have at no. 6.

Perera, apart from being the captain, is the most important cog in Sri Lanka’s line-up as his presence gives them the perfect balance. He is the hard-hitting finisher down the order and is the third seamer in the side who with his slower balls and cutters can be very effective in the middle overs.

Bowlers (Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Sachith Pathirana, Akila Dhananjaya)

Suranga Lakmal has easily been the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers on this tour. He has consistently pitched the ball in the right areas and wherever the pitch has responded, he has been able to put the batsmen in trouble.

While Lakmal was struggling to get ample support from the other end in the Test series, he got that in the first ODI as Nuwan Pradeep, who was also returning from an injury, bowled an equally good spell and kept the Indian batsmen at bay. The duo will have to continue the good work in Mohali if Sri Lanka are to win the series.

The Sri Lankan spinners were not tested much in Dharamshala as the fast bowlers had done the bulk of the damage with the new ball, but they will have their work cut out in Mohali if India manage to negotiate the new ball safely. The Indian players are very, very good against spin and bowling to them with only 4 fielders back on the boundary will be an uphill task for these two young spinners.