1st ODI: Madushanka to debut as Sri Lanka win toss, elect to bowl first against India in series opener

Guwahati: Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka has won the toss and elected to bowl first in the ODI series opener against India at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, here on Tuesday.

After winning the toss, Shanaka said left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka will make his ODI debut apart from Dunith Wellalage coming in for Maheesh Theekshana from the eleven which played in T20Is. “We are going to bowl first, because of the dew at night. It was a good boost, the way we played in the T20Is,” he added.

India captain Rohit Sharma said he would have liked to bowl first too, but thinks chasing is a good challenge. He also confirmed that Shubman Gill would open the batting with Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul forming the rest of the batting order, followed by all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel.

In the fast-bowling department, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj will partner with young tearaway pacer Umran Malik after pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the series due to a precautionary measure. The trio will be joined in specialist bowling duties by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

“The ground was flooded with dew yesterday. There will be times where we need to bowl under dew, we got to be ready for that with the World Cup around the corner. It’s about doing the basics right, it’s important to do things differently at times.”

“We need to keep moving in the right direction. Had a great time playing an ODI here last time, hope we’ll have another memorable game today,” he added.

Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Umran Malik and Mohammed Siraj

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wicketkeeper), Avishka Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (captain), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dunith Wellalage, Kasun Rajitha and Dilshan Madushanka

–IANS