India vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI: Team India will play the last ODI match of the series against Sri Lanka today. After the disappointing performance of the batsmen in the first two matches, now if they want to save their 27-year-old record in the last ODI, then the team will have to work on a special strategy which was a major reason for the team’s loss in the last two matches. The Indian team has not lost any ODI series against Sri Lanka for the last 27 years and if this record has to be saved then they will have to dominate the spinners in the third and final ODI match. This is Gautam Gambhir’s first ODI series as head coach and he would definitely not want to start with a defeat.
Team India’s 27 year old record against Sri Lanka
India last faced defeat in an ODI series against Sri Lanka in 1997. The team led by Arjun Ranatunga then defeated Sachin Tendulkar’s Indian team in all three matches. Since then there have been 11 ODI series between India and Sri Lanka and the Indian team has been victorious in all of them. However, India would not be able to win this series because after losing the first match to a tie, it had to face defeat by 32 runs in the second match. Now India’s eyes are set on leveling the series.
This deficiency must be removed
India has reached this situation due to the poor performance of the batsmen. The pitch of R Premadasa Stadium is providing a lot of help to the spinners and except captain Rohit Sharma, no other Indian batsman has been able to face the Sri Lankan spinners boldly. Star batsman Virat Kohli has been able to score only 38 runs in two matches so far. He has lost his wicket easily which is a matter of concern for the team. Kohli will try his best to compensate for that in this match. Kohli needs to carry forward the aggressive start he got from Rohit but till now he has failed in this. He will have to handle the innings along with the middle-order batsmen. For this, he and other batsmen will have to dominate the spinners and play like Rohit.
Sri Lankan spinners remain an incomprehensible puzzle for other Indian batsmen as well. Shivam Dubey, who performed well against the spinners, could not even understand the easy leg spin of Jeffrey Vandersay in the last match. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul have also failed to play Sri Lanka’s spinners so far. Rohit had played a explosive inning of 64 runs in 44 balls in the last match. Sri Lankan spinners could not keep up with him. Other batsmen of India also need to learn from their captain. In this match, India can give a chance to Riyan Parag in place of Dubey, who plays spinners well. Their spin bowling will be an added bonus for the team, as the Indian bowlers have not yet been able to make the same impact as the Sri Lankan spinners.
The teams are as follows:
Indian team: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Akshar Patel, Khalil Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
Sri Lanka team: Charith Asalanka (captain), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Sadira Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Zenith Liyanage, Nishan Madushka, Dunith Vellaage, Chamika Karunaratne, Akila Dhananjay, Mohammed Shiraz, Maheesh Theekshana, Asitha Fernando, Ishan Malinga, Geoffrey Vandersay. .