Sri Lanka gave a debut cap to Nuwanidu Fernando and also picked Lahiru Kumara in place of Dilshan Madushanka (shoulder injury) and Pathum Nissanka(stiff back). Similarly, India named Kuldeep Yadav to replace Yuzvendra Chahal.
The tourists won the toss and opted to bat first. The decision, however, didn’t go in their favour as they lost opener Avishka Fernando in the sixth over. India pacer Mohammed Siraj drew the first blood after he cleaned up Fernando with a clinical in-swinger. Siraj went for a good length ball outside off-stump, which nipped back in sharply. Fernando tried to drive but got the inside edge, and the white leather crashed onto his stumps.
Here is the video:
Earlier at the toss, India skipper Rohit Sharma revealed the reason behind Chahal’s absence from the match. Rohit said that the leg-spinner couldn’t recover from his diving effort during the series opener in Guwahati. Rohit also mentioned he was in dual minds regarding what to choose but was happy with the toss after looking at the ground.
“I was in two minds. I wanted to bat first because of how we played last time, but looking at this ground, I wanted to field. One enforced change for us, Chahal in the last game, put in a dive and hasn’t recovered well today, so Kuldeep Yadav comes in,” said Rohit while speaking to Murali Kartik.
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