The Islanders won the last game and levelled up the series. Kusal Mendis (52 off 31), and skipper Dasun Shanaka (56 off 22) shined for the visitors with the bat. On the other hand, India couldn’t finish the game despite Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel scoring 51 and 65 runs, respectively.
The match at Pune also saw the debut of the local boy Rahul Tripathi and return of left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh. Rahul had a poor outing with the bat, while Arshdeep failed miserable with the ball and bowled five no-balls.
Indian skipper Hardik Pandya seemed unhappy with his team’s overall performance and in the post-match presentation said: “Both bowling and batting – powerplay hurt us. We made basic errors which we shouldn’t do at this level. Learning should be the basics we can control. You can have a bad day but shouldn’t be going away from basics.”
Now, the final game at Rajkot will be a series decider.
Pitch report:
The SCA stadium is bliss for batters and, to some extent, will also help the spinners. The average first-inning score at the venue is 179. The ground has so far hosted four matches, out of which, the team batting first and the team chasing have won two games each. Since it’s a big game, both captains will look to bowl first after winning the toss.
Probable XIs:
India: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Rahul Tripathi, Hardik Pandya (c), Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel, Shivam Mavi, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madhushanka, Pramod Madhushan, Lahiru Kumara
Match Prediction:
Case 1
- India wins the toss and bowls first
- Powerplay score: 40-50
- Sri Lanka total: 170-180
Case 2
- Sri Lanka wins the toss and bowls first
- Powerplay score: 45-55
- India total: 175-185
Team batting second to win the contest.
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