India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl in the third and deciding one-day international cricket game against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. The hosts made just one change to the team that won the previous ODI in Mohali to level the three-match series 1-1.
Bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar sat out due to sickness with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav back in the starting line-up. "Good conditions, will be hot initially but as the day goes on, climate gets better. Keeping the dew factor in mind, we want to chase," said Sharma, who hit a record 208 not out in the Mohali ODI.
"This team has a lot of character and has often taken responsibility in tough situations. We were put under pressure in the first game and responded well in the second," he added. Sri Lanka captain Thisara Perera said the team wanted to do "something special," aiming for a first-ever series win in India.
"It's a really good wicket to bat on. We would like to put runs on board and put them under pressure," said Perera. "We have two spinners, let's see how things go on. We didn't bowl well at all in the last game, such things happen. Hopefully we can do things right today and do something special." The visitors have brought in Sadeera Samarawickrama in place of batsman Lahiru Thirimanne.
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera (captain), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella (wicketkeeper), Sachith Pathirana, Suranga Lakmal, Akila Dananjaya, Nuwan Pradeep
Umpires: Nitin Menon (IND) and Simon Fry (AUS)
TV Umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)
Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)