Why is KL Rahul not playing today's IND vs SL 2024 3rd ODI?
Team India take on Sri Lanka in the third and final ODI with plenty at stake in Colombo on Wednesday, August 7. The hosts lead the three-match series by an unassailable 1-0 margin with a golden opportunity to win their first bilateral ODI series against India since 1997.
The major news at the toss was wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul missing the Indian playing XI for the all-important third ODI. Instead, the left-handed Rishabh Pant will don the wicketkeeping gloves for the first time in the series replacing Rahul.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed the news at the toss, saying:
"Plenty to play for, we've been challenged in the last two matches. It's clear as to what we need to do with the bat and ball. We've addressed it - what we need to do as a group. You got to give credit to the opposition, they played well and understood the position well. Another opportunity for us to correct. Two changes. We have Rishabh and Riyan Parag in place of KL and Arshdeep."
KL Rahul did not make much of a mark in the opening two ODIs with scores of 31 and 0, respectively. The 32-year-old uncharacteristically batted at No.7 in the second ODI and played an ungainly shot to be castled by Jeffrey Vandersay for a two-ball duck.
Pant replacing Rahul will also bolster India's left-handed batting strength in the middle order to tackle the barrage of Sri Lankan spinners.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj.
India bolster their spin attack for the all-important 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka
Team India made another change apart from the KL Rahul-Rishabh Pant swap by bringing in batting all-rounder Riyan Parag for left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh.
With spin dictating terms in the first two ODIs at the same venue, the Men in Blue added a fourth spin-bowling option in Parag to complement the three specialists, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar.
It will be Parag's ODI debut and his batting prowess also strengthens India's depth with Sundar slotted to come in at No.9.
Parag played in all three T20Is that preceded the ODIs against Sri Lanka and picked up figures of 3/5 in the opening T20I encounter.
As for Sri Lanka, they made the lone change by bringing in Maheesh Theekshana for Akila Dananjaya.