Colombo (Sri Lanka): Dasun Shanaka-led Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first ODI at the R.Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. The visitors have handed debuts to Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav. At the time of the toss, India skipper Shikhar Dhawan said: We were also looking to bat first as the dew factor will come into play. Shaw will open along with me. Kishan and Suryakumar will make their debuts." On the other hand, Shanaka said, "We are going to bat first. History suggests batting first is ideal here. We have a debutant, it's Bhanuka Rajapaksa.
India might have picked a plethora of young guns for the Sri Lanka series but the visitors will still start as favourites in the ODI series. While Dhawan has been named the captain for the Sri Lanka tour, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be his deputy with former skipper Rahul Dravid coaching the side. Despite the absence of star players such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Jasprit Bumrah, India is well ahead of Sri Lanka considering the visitors' squad comprises of Dhawan, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar and Deepak Chahar.
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India playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan(c), Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan(w), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav Sri Lanka playing XI: Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka(w), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana, Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan
(ANI)
