India vs Sri Lanka – 1st ODI Match Preview

The opening game of the 5-match ODI series between India and Sri Lanka will start on the 15th of December in Rajkot. After a 2-0 victory for the home side in the Test series which took them on top of the ICC Rankings and a squared 2-match T20 series the Sri Lankan team will be looking forward to save some of its dignity by trying to be the better of the two sides, whereas the hosts will be all set to win this series which will prove their ultimate superiority in the game by going on top of the ICC ODI Rankings as well.

Meanwhile a breaking news for Sri Lankan supporters and fans is that its dangerous veteran opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya has been pushed down to the middle order as decided by the team management and captain, a position which threw light upon his initial batting career and in which he hasn’t batted for nearly 15 years.

The absence of India’s sizzling middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh who heroically led India to a record run chase win in the 2nd T20 will be critical and his most-likely replacement will be Virat Kohli.

The probable 11-member team for both teams are as follows.

India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Thilina Kandamby/Thilan Samaraweera, Sanath Jayasuriya, Angelo Mathews, Muttiah Muralithara, and Nuwan Kulasekera/Dilhara Fernando/Ajantha Mendis.

Neo Cricket will telecast the match and it will start at 9 AM Indian Standard Time.