India will take on Sri Lanka in the second ODI of the series to seal the series. Meanwhile, the Lankan side will look to bounce back after a loss in the first game.
Match Timings: July 20, 3 PM IST
Match Preview
India and Sri Lanka will battle out again in Colombo for the second ODI of the series. After winning the opening encounter by 7 wickets, India have taken a 1-0 lead in the series and Dhawan’s troops would eye series win this time. India played a dominating cricket in the first ODI and chased down 263 runs with 13.2 overs left. Top-order batted very well and the captain led from the front. Shaw started very well and Ishan Kishan scored a fifty on his ODI debut.
Dhawan’s approach was good from the start and he completed 6000 runs in ODI format as well. India can make changes in the playing XI as Dravid has already given a sign of using all players in this tour. If Samson is fit, he may join the team as the wicket-keeper and Navdeep Saini should be considered in place of Chahar. Rotation will be continued but still, India will enter with the tag of favourites. India beat England 2-1 at home this year and their numbers in white-ball formats are promising good. They would now look to grab 10 points more here.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka are struggling in all formats, but we saw some good steadiness in batting on Sunday. They got 262 without adding a half-century stand and an individual fifty. It means, they got a start but failed to convert it. Sri Lanka needs to win such things during the game. One big score pushes others to accelerate. Sri Lanka should target a better performance in the second game and if they bat first, they should hit 300.
Considering the hard-hitting Indian batting, less than 300 will not work. Sri Lanka might play with a similar XI and they should stick with the same squad for future perspective. Sri Lanka won just one game out of the last 10 ODIs which is a big concern but it’s a process of rebuilding so hosts should look at positives from each defeat.
Pitch Report
Colombo’s surface is ideally a batting surface and we might expect lot of runs here. It’s a surface of 300 and spinners would be crucial like we saw in the previous game. Chasing would be the best call but it would be tough if the score is more than 300.
Possible XI
India
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson/Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini/Deepak Chahar
Sri Lanka
Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Ramesh Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya Lakshan
Key Players
India
Shikhar Dhawan
A gritty half-century in the last game, coming off a great Indian T20 League season
Prithvi Shaw
Showed hard-hitting in the last game and could be a game-changer in this game
Sri Lanka
Dasun Shanaka
Looked good with the bat in the last game, a prominent player for SL in the last two years
Wanindu Hasaranga
A handy allrounder, going through a dream phase of his career
