Take on India in first one-dayer:

Sri Lanka out to show its prowess

Sri Lanka placed fourth in the ICC ODI rankings and India who is just above Sri Lanka with two points will meet each other in the first of the five One Day Internationals at Cuttack today.

The under prepared Sri Lankans will take on the strong Indians in a makeshift limited overs series to accommodate the vacuum created by the West Indies who abruptly abandoned the tour due to a payment dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board and the players Association.

The Lankans were planning differently after winning their ODI series against Pakistan last August with the 2015 World Cup in view but had to change their plans to meet India.

Both teams no doubt will try to build up their World Cup squads trying to fetch fresh talent. India’s regular captain M.S.Dhoni has opted out from the five match ODI series to paved the way to his deputy Virat Kohli to take charge of the side. Dhoni is resting for the Indian tour of Australia. Dhoni for a long time and still has been India’s backbone as a highly reliable wicket keeper batsman and an astute leader. His not playing should make the visitors task a bit easier, but the strength of the Indian batting even without their stalwarts was visible in their recently concluded warm up game.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka has rested their main strike bowler Lasith Malinga who has played a lot of T20 cricket in India and Dinesh Chandimal, and vice Captain Lahiru Thirimanne. The team has included an up-and-coming paceman Lahiru Gamage who had excelled at ‘A’ team level matches. Gamage will get the ideal opportunity to prove his worth in the with the others like all-rounder Chaturanga de Silva and off-spinner Suraj Randive making his presence in the side after some time.

(RA)