Colombo: A rampaging India will fancy their chances of completing a 5-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka when they face the beleaguered hosts in the fifth and final ODI here Sunday.
Sri Lanka are in danger of losing a second successive ODI series to India by a 5-0 margin. They have already foregone the opportunity to automatically qualify for the 2019 ODI World Cup by failing to win two matches in this series.
There are no injury concerns in the Indian team and the same playing combination except opener Shikhar Dhawan is expected to be retained Sunday, with the likes of Manish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur given a further opportunity to impress.
Additionally, coach Ravi Shastri had spoken about the need to carefully manage workloads of bowlers across formats. It remains to be seen if Hardik Pandya will be given a break in this light, and Kedar Jadhav given another chance to impress, ahead of a long limited-overs’ schedule at home.
There is also the possibility Ajinkya Rahane may be given a game in the absence of Dhawan. This also puts the spotlight on KL Rahul who was given a middle-order role in the current ODI series, specifically keeping the preparation for the next World Cup in mind. So far that experiment hasn’t worked with Rahul going through a lean patch.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka are expected to make at least one chance to their playing XI. Skipper Upul Tharanga will be back in charge after serving two games suspension for slow over rate.
Dhawan released
Colombo: In-form opener Shikhar Dhawan will not be a part of India’s final ODI and lone T20 international after he left for India to attend his ailing mother. The selection committee has decided not to name any replacement as only two matches are left. Dhawan was the highest run-getter in the Test series and also scored 132 in the opening ODI of the ongoing series.
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