Hosts Sri Lanka will be looking for inspiration from all quarters as it takes on the world number one, India in the second Test of the three match series at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo on Thursday.
Virat Kohli’s high-flying men made short work of a lacklustre Sri Lanka in the opening test at Galle as Rangana Herath’s men were put to the sword with a huge 304 runs defeat.
Sri Lanka focus
Dinesh Chandimal returns from his illness to take over the captaincy reins from stand-in skipper Herath. His return to the side adds some much needed experience in a batting order already reeling from the loss of Asela Gunaratne to a wrist injury in the first Test.
Chandimal will have to contend with lifting the morale of a dressing room which looked bereft of ideas in Galle as the Indians romped home to a resounding victory.
After narrowly scraping over the line against Zimbabwe and failing to beat Bangladesh on home turf, Sri Lanka look to be fighting an uphill battle against the in-form Indians.
On a Colombo pitch known to favour the batsmen, Chandimal might look into playing five specialist bowlers.
The idea of a third spinner in the form of Malinda Pushpakumara has been mooted and it could very well come to fruition after Herath and Dilruwan Perera could only muster only two Indian wickets in the 94 overs they sent down at Galle.
Skipper Dinesh Chandimal’s return will bolster Sri Lanka’s batting
India focus
The Indians on the other hand are flying high with each of their top five batsmen getting a half century at least in the Galle Test.
There will be no qualms about the bowling either which was top notch with all the frontline Indian bowlers claiming wickets.
The spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja was on song as the pair accounted for 10 Sri Lankan wickets while the pace battery of Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav with debutant Hardik Pandya in tow picked up seven wickets.
The only issue which Kohli’s India has to contend with is the return of opener KL. Rahul. The right–hander missed the opening Test with an injury but his return is likely to relegate Abhinav Mukund to the bench despite his fine knock in the second innings at Galle.
Looking at the pitch conditions at Colombo, Kohli might be inclined to play three spinners which could mean that left arm chinaman wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav will come in instead of Pandya despite the latter’s debut heroics.
Kuldeep Yadav could be set to join Jadeja in the playing XI for the second Test
Date, Time, Venue Info
Date: 03-07 August 2017
Time: 08:30 GST, 10:00 local, 04:30 GMT, 10:00 IST
Venue: Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo
Where and when to watch it
TV: Ten Cricket
Full coverage on Sport360.com
Likely Playing XI
Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Malinda Pushpakumara, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dinesh Chandimal (c), Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath, Lahiru Kumara, Nuwan Pradeep.
India: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.