3rd ODI: IPL stars Sakariya, Rana and Gowtham are included in the list of 5 debutants in India
The Indian national team on Friday handed debuts to as many as 5 players in the insignificant third ODI match against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Sanjay Samson, Nitish Rana, Rahul Chauhan, Chetan Sakarya and Krishnappa Gautam were handed their first ODI caps just before the toss, while Navdeep Saini was also named in the squad.
This is only the second time that India are fielding five debutants in an ODI, since their inaugural match. It was in Australia at the MCG in December 1980, when Dilip Doshi, Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Sandeep Patil and Tirumalai Srinivasan made their debuts.
Shikhar Dhawan won his first toss as India captain and opted to bat first. He revealed the 6 changes and the 5 debutants that India will be playing in this match.
The visitors will be setting a target for the first time in this series after registering two successful run chases to take an unbeatable 2-0 series lead.
“We want to put up a good total on the board. We have got six changes, and five debutants. Navdeep comes in among the debutants. We are motivated, and we want to finish on a high. With the youngsters coming in, we are really excited and looking forward,” Dhawan said after calling right at the toss.
Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are the players who have been left out of the playing XI with the series already in the bag.
India Playing XI: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan(c), Sanju Samson(w), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.
Sri Lanka on the other hand, have made three changes with Praveen Jayawickrama, Akila Dananjaya and Ramesh Mendis coming into their playing XI.
Sri Lanka Playing XI: Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka(w), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka(c), Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama.
