By BV Swagath
After a massive gap, Team India will be once again seen in action when they take on Sri Lanka in the first of the five ODIs at Hambantota this afternoon. The two teams have already played in 134 ODIs against each other out of which India has won in 71 matches and Sri Lanka has won in 51 matches.
Sri Lanka have always been lions in their own den making it tough for their opponents by coming up with sluggish slow turners. Indian batsmen who like the ball coming onto the bat have often struggled to play to their real potential in this part of the world. Stats reveal that out of the 51 ODIs played between the two countries in SL, India has won 19 while Sri Lanka has the upper hand winning 26 ODIs.
The venue for today’s First ODI is the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Sooriyawewa, Hambantota. It is a pretty new stadium that has hosted just the 4 ODIs till date. The weather for this opening ODI between Sri Lanka and India is likely to be overcast with possible shower around 6 PM in the evening.
Sri Lanka Squad: Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Chamara Kapugedera, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Kumar Sangakkara (Wicket Keeper), Sachithra Senanayake, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana
India Squad: MS Dhoni (Captain and Wicket Keeper), Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Manoj Tiwary