India Look to Seal Another Series

Hyderabad: India will aim to continue their domination over Sri Lanka at home in the third ODI at Uppal.

Before the series began, Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews spoke about how unprepared his side was for the hastily-arranged five-ODI series against India. Following the conclusion of the first two ODIs, his assessment stands true.

Everything is going right with Indian team at the moment. Virat Kohli, in the absence of regular skipper MS Dhoni, has impressed with fresh ideas.

At No. 3, in the first game of the series, Suresh Raina scored a breezy fifty and in the second Ambati Rayudu slammed his maiden ODI ton. Who will be the next? Will Kohli take guard at his regular spot or continue to experiment? On the bowling front too, India have been pretty impressive. Not only their pacers but the slow bowlers are also proving to be tough for the Lankans.

On otherhand, Mathews, the most successful ODI batsman in 2014 so far, was visibly hurt by the performance of his men. Even in Ahmedabad, where they posted somewhat a challenging total, it was largely due to his unbeaten 92.

The top order has failed to come good in the opening two games. Their two pillars in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara have been rusty. The bowlers, in the absence of senior members, have been unimpressive.

Teams from:

India: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Virat Kohli (Capt.), Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay

Sri Lanka: Kushal Janith Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews (Capt.), Ashan Priyanjan, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Dhammika Prasad, Suraj Randiv, Lahiru Gamage, Upul Tharanga, Chaturanga de Silva, Nuwan Kulasekara, Niroshan Dickwella

Pitch & condition:
Partly cloudy with a high of 31 degree C, dew is expected to play a role as usual, but otherwise forecasts suggest the weather should not interfere.

Stats & trivia:

• India have played four ODIs at Uppal and lost three of them. Their only win came against England in October 2011 when they won by 126 runs.
• Shikhar Dhawan needs 45 runs to reach a career tally of 2000.

Match facts
Sunday, November 9, 2014 (day/night)
Start time 1330 local (0800 GMT, 1.30pm SLT)