SL vs Ind, 3rd ODI: Dhawan wins toss, elects to bat; Samson and Sakariya make debut
Jul 23, 2021
Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 23 : India skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and opted to bat against Sri Lanka in the third and final ODI here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Friday.
The Indian line-up would look to win the third ODI and register a clean sweep. India made six changes to their line-up and five players are making their debut.
Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Chetan Sakariya, K Gowtham, Rahul Chahar are the five Indian players who will be making their debuts.
At the time of the toss, Dhawan said: "We'll bat first. We want to put up a good total on the board. We have got six changes, and five debutants. Navdeep comes in among the debutants. We are motivated, and we want to finish on a high. With the youngsters coming in, we are really excited and looking forward."
On the other hand, Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka said: "I think the wicket is dry and should stay good. We have three changes: Ishan Jayaratne, Akila Dananjaya, Ramesh Mendis come in. I think we are on the right track at the moment and winning this is important to go forward."
Deepak Chahar (69*) smashed a gutsy fifty and shared an unbeaten 84-run stand with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (19*) to take India home after the visitors were reduced to 193/7 in the second ODI. India was down and almost out in their chase but Chahar made sure India got home in the final over.
With this win, India gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
India playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan(c), Prithvi Shaw, Sanju Samson, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, K Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.
Sri Lanka playing XI: Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka(w), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka(c), Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Akila Dananjaya, Praveen Jayawickrama.
