The recharged team Indi will look forward to a winning beginning to latest series but it will not be easy for them against the Sri Lankan squad. The first ODI will be played today i.e. on Saturday, the 21st of July 2012 at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium.
Sri Lankans, the hosts have been the hungry Tigers looking out for prey as they even beat the Pakistan team in tests as well as ODIs, outplaying high riding competitors with clinical performance. As for the Sri Lankans and Mahela Jayawardene especially, it will be just the continuation of good yields in series. India will play 5 ODI & 1 T20 in this Sri lanka tour. You can check Full Schedule of the series to know details of other match schedule.
Jayawardene recently reported that they have just finished great series against the Pakistan team and now it is time to build on good work again. Rangana Herath and Chamara Kapugedera are comeback boys in ODIs. Kapugedera has wretched run in team A tour of Zimbabwe.
Among the new guns of Jayawardene is Isuru Udana. The player has just been in 6 T20 matches after 3 years after his debut in the year 2009. He was called again to play the T20 against the Pakistan squad.
On the other side, MS Dhoni stated that they are no strangers on Sri Lankan ground. And so acclimatization will not prove to be a problem. Further, he made no remarks of his team’s ambitions in the tour to Sri Lanka. He was just happy that most of his team’s players are from nucleus side for world Twenty20.
In Indian team, the new vice captain, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be players to seriously watch out apart from some other players like Zaheer Khan and Virendra Sehwag.
Injury faced by Vinay Kumar that has actually put Irfan Pathan in the squad again seems to have silenced argument that Indian team was lacking genuine all rounder player in their squad. Ravichandran Ashwin, the off spinner even looks forward to make great mark on spin friendly tracks in Sri Lanka.
So, we wish Team India all the best for this match and the entire tournament.
The Squads:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virat Kohli (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda, Irfan Pathan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma.
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedara, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeevan Mendis, Isuru Udana.
Ind vs SL Live Score
You can also check Full Scorecard of India vs Sri Lanka First ODI.
