India look for fresh start in World Cup year as ODIs against Sri Lanka begin | Cricket News – Times of India

GUWAHATI: A lot has changed in Indian cricket over the past one year, with the captain-coach combo changing across formats as Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma took over from Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli. What remained constant was the Men in Blue’s fortunes in ICC tournaments.
A semifinal exit in the T20 World Cup Down Under and an unsuccessful attempt to defend the Asia Cup highlighted the year. Team India will be eager to start their journey in the New Year on a winning note, given that the ODI World Cup is scheduled at home later this year.

So the ODI series against Sri Lanka, starting from Tuesday at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, offers the perfect opportunity.

While the return of senior pros like the captain himself, Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah is welcome, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the three-match series early in the day.

Asked to elaborate on Bumrah’s fitness concerns, Rohit said, “It’s very unfortunate for him, he’s been practising hard at NCA for the last few weeks. He just felt a stiffness couple of days ago and if Bumrah is saying he is not feeling well, you have to pull him out. We need to be extra careful with Bumrah.”

Meanwhile, Shami is expected to make a comeback to lead the bowling alongside Mohammed Siraj, while one of the young guns — Arshdeep Singh or Umran Malik — is likely to find a place in the XI. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel with his all-round performances in the T20 series recently is quite certain to make the ODI team too. The think-tank will face the task of picking between chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and leggie Yuzvendra Chahal, but the latter looks to have his nose ahead in this selection dilemma.
With the return of Iyer and Rahul in the middle, where does man-in-blistering-form Suryakumar Yadav fit in? Shubman Gill is likely to partner the skipper as opener instead of Ishan Kishan, who scored a record-breaking double ton in the last ODI he played in, against Bangladesh. However, it’s also good to have a problem of plenty, as captain Rohit hinted.

The Islanders, on the other hand, will be content with a set team without the need of much changing and chopping, as they retained almost the same squad from the T20Is. Captain and allrounder Dasun Shanaka led by example in the T20Is and is expected to carry on in that vein.

Sri Lanka will bank on Pathum Nissanka for a head start to their innings, while Charith Asalanka is expected to anchor the middle order.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Kusal Mendis (vc), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ashen Bandara, Maheesh Theekshana, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Kasun Rajitha, Nuwanidu Fernando (ODIs), Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Lahiru Kumara