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Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat v India
Recent results at the Premadasa Stadium suggest the ground is a good one for the team batting second, but Mahela Jayawardene ignored that trend when he won the toss and chose to bat in the third ODI. The pitch looked a true one, and Jayawardene reckoned batting first would be the best way to put the Indian batsmen under pressure, especially given their abysmal performance in the second ODI.
The venue changed from Hambantota to Premadasa, and both teams made changes to their line-up too. India made two, but neither of them was in the batting line-up, which had flopped so badly: Umesh Yadav and Pragyan Ojha went out, while Ashok Dinda and Rahul Sharma came in, with MS Dhoni reckoning that Rahul would obtain some bounce. Sri Lanka's only change was the inclusion of allrounder Jeevan Mendis at the expense of Lahiru Thirimanne.
Since the pitch was relaid for the 2011 World Cup, the team batting second has had a distinct advantage here, winning seven out of ten day-night ODIs, and six of the last seven. One of the three wins for the team batting first was when Pakistan beat minnows Canada by 46 runs in that World Cup, though even that was a struggle, after Pakistan scored 184. The average run-rate for the team batting first in the last ten games is 4.37 (which translates into a 50-over score of 219), with only one 250-plus score during this period. Two centuries were scored in those ten games, and both in run-chases in the same match, by Sri Lanka's openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga in the World Cup quarter-final against England. Sri Lanka have a 6-2 win-loss during this period, with five of those wins coming in chases. This time, though, Jayawardene chose to do it differently.
Sri Lanka: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 6 Jeevan Mendis, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Isuru Udana, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Rangana Herath
India: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Rahul Sharma
Recent results at the Premadasa Stadium suggest the ground is a good one for the team batting second, but Mahela Jayawardene ignored that trend when he won the toss and chose to bat in the third ODI. The pitch looked a true one, and Jayawardene reckoned batting first would be the best way to put the Indian batsmen under pressure, especially given their abysmal performance in the second ODI.
The venue changed from Hambantota to Premadasa, and both teams made changes to their line-up too. India made two, but neither of them was in the batting line-up, which had flopped so badly: Umesh Yadav and Pragyan Ojha went out, while Ashok Dinda and Rahul Sharma came in, with MS Dhoni reckoning that Rahul would obtain some bounce. Sri Lanka's only change was the inclusion of allrounder Jeevan Mendis at the expense of Lahiru Thirimanne.
Since the pitch was relaid for the 2011 World Cup, the team batting second has had a distinct advantage here, winning seven out of ten day-night ODIs, and six of the last seven. One of the three wins for the team batting first was when Pakistan beat minnows Canada by 46 runs in that World Cup, though even that was a struggle, after Pakistan scored 184. The average run-rate for the team batting first in the last ten games is 4.37 (which translates into a 50-over score of 219), with only one 250-plus score during this period. Two centuries were scored in those ten games, and both in run-chases in the same match, by Sri Lanka's openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga in the World Cup quarter-final against England. Sri Lanka have a 6-2 win-loss during this period, with five of those wins coming in chases. This time, though, Jayawardene chose to do it differently.
Sri Lanka: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 6 Jeevan Mendis, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Isuru Udana, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Rangana Herath
India: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Rahul Sharma