Ahmedabad: After starting the series with a crushing victory, an upbeat India will aim to maintain their stranglehold over an under-prepared Sri Lanka when they meet in the second ODI here on Thursday.
Needless to say that India will be starting as overwhelming favourites at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, having walloped the opponents by 169 runs in the opening match.
Coming on as last-minute substitutes after West Indies pulled out of the series due to a payment dispute with their Board, nothing went right for the islanders, who had to leave behind their fitness training programme at home to get ready for this tour, in the Cuttack opener.
For Lanka to make a match of it on Thursday it’s imperative they restrict the Indian batting line-up from running up another big total if it bat first. It’s in bowling that Lanka appear the weaker side especially without slinger Malinga and left-arm spinner Herath who are not in the tour.
Teams:
India: Virat Kohli (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay, Stuart Binny, Akshar Patel.
Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ashan Priyanjan, Niroshan Dickwella, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Lahiru Gamage, Chaturanga de Silva, Seekuge Prasanna, Suraj Randiv. (PTI)