Mohali ODI: India face do-or-die clash against Sri Lanka
After suffering an embarrassing defeat against Sri Lanka, India will aim to bounce back in the do-or-die second ODI of the three-match series here at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium on 13 December.
Earlier, the Men in Blue failed to overcome an astonishing early collapse and slumped to a seven-wicket defeat against the Thisara Perera-led side in the first ODI at the Himachal Pradesh Association Stadium (HPCA) in Dharamsala.
The defeat not only hurt India, but it was also an eye-opener for a team who has remained dominant all throughout the long home season so far.
India, who is led by stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli, will now have to pull up their socks and learn from the mistakes of the first match if they want to keep themselves alive in the series and end the home season on high.
Lanka, on the other hand, will strike with full force in order to clinch their maiden ODI series win this year. They are currently leading the series 1-0 following their opening-match win.
Meanwhile, eighteen-year-old Washington Sundar, who has not just earned his maiden call for the Indian ODI side as replacement for an injured Kedar Jadhav, is in line to make his debut.
It will also be interesting to see if pacer Siddharth Kaul, who has been rewarded by the national selectors for his consistent performance in domestic cricket in recent times, will get a chance to play for the hosts.
The two ODI squads are as follows:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul.
Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera (captain), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Chaturanga de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dushmantha Chameera, Sachith Pathirana, Kusal Perera.
-ANI
