India vs Sri Lanka 2024, 3rd ODI: Toss result and playing XIs for today's match, umpires list and pitch report
India take on Sri Lanka in the third and final ODI of the series at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, August 7. The hosts are 1-0 up in the three-match series and hence the Men in Blue will need to win the final game to ensure that they do not lose a bilateral ODI series to Lanka for the first time since 1997.
Team India's batting will need to come to the party in the must-win clash. In both games, they have been heavily dependent on their skipper Rohit Sharma to deliver the goods. Rohit has smashed two fifties, but the others, barring Axar Patel, haven't made much of an impact. India's inability to deal with Sri Lanka's spinners has also been hugely disappointing.
Apart from hoping that the likes of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer come to the party, India will also need to be ruthless with the ball in hand. In the first two ODIs, they allowed Sri Lanka to recover after knocking over their top and middle order with not too many on the board.
Today's IND vs SL toss result
Sri Lanka have won the toss and opted to bat first. Charith Asalanka said:
“Definitely, we are going to bat again. The conditions are looking the same as the first two ODIs.”
Sri Lanka have made one change - Maheesh Theekshana comes in for Akila Dananjaya. For India, Rishabh Pant and Riyan Parag (ODI debut) have come in KL Rahul and Arshdeep Singh.
IND vs SL - Today's match playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (w), Shreyas Iyer, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis( w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka (c), Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando
Today's IND vs SL pitch report
In his pitch report, Russel Arnold says that the surface is a dry one again, so we can expect a similar game to the previous ones in the series. The pitch is a new one, but the groundsman has used the scissors to take out the grass, so cracks are visible, he adds. Apart from spin, it might also spit a bit at the batters and hence would be more challenging for them, Arnold concludes.
Today's IND vs SL match players list
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, KL Rahul (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Rishabh Pant, Khaleel Ahmed, Riyan Parag, Harshit Rana
Sri Lanka squad: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka (c), Janith Liyanage, Dunith Wellalage, Akila Dananjaya, Asitha Fernando, Jeffrey Vandersay, Mohamed Shiraz, Chamika Karunaratne, Kamindu Mendis, Nishan Madushka, Maheesh Theekshana, Eshan Malinga
IND vs SL - Today's match umpires
On-field umpires: Joel Wilson, Ruchira Palliyaguruge
TV umpire: Paul Reiffel
Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle