What happened the last time India played an ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo?
India will face Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI series, which will be played from August 2 to 7 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The visitors are fresh off a 3-0 win in the T20I leg of the series and will want to maintain their momentum.
This series will mark the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom retired from the shortest format after India's T20 World Cup triumph. Moreover, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul will also be key players for the team in the middle-order.
Right-arm pacer Harshit Rana, who emerged as the second-highest wicket-taker for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024, will likely be making his ODI debut in this series.
It will be interesting to see who among the all-rounders will be selected in the playing XI. It is likely that with spin-friendly surfaces on offer, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar will be in the fray over Shivam Dube.
Meanwhile, in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, the core bowling unit could be Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh & Khaleel Ahmed/ Rana.
On that note, let's check out what transpired in the last game when India played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
India won the 2023 Asia Cup in their last ODI appearance at Colombo
In their last ODI outing at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, India met Sri Lanka in the 2023 Asia Cup final. After qualifying from the group stages, the Indian team finished first in the Super Four stage. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka were second in the table.
The Islanders won the toss and elected to bat despite overcast weather. In only the third ball of the innings, Jasprit Bumrah induced an edge off Kusal Perera and got him holed out to keeper KL Rahul.
The fourth over saw Mohammed Siraj breathe fire and create history by becoming the first Indian bowler to claim four wickets in a single over. He dismissed Pathum Nissanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva. All the batters fell prey to Siraj's fuller deliveries, which got good purchase from the surface.
In his next over, the right-arm pacer picked up his fifth wicket by breaching the defense of Dasun Shanaka, who completely played down the wrong line. The ball moved away from the batter in the last moment to take out his stumps.
Although Kusal Mendis displayed resistance and started to find odd boundaries, he was bowled by Siraj in the 12th over. Then, Hardik Pandya took the remaining three wickets and Sri Lanka were bowled out for a paltry score of 50 in 15.2 overs. Siraj finished with sensational figures of 6/21 in seven overs.
In response, openers, Shubman Gill (27* off 19) and Ishan Kishan (23* off 18) remained unbeaten to seal the chase under seven overs. It was the Men in Blue's eighth Asia Cup title.