Sri Lanka v India, 5th ODI: India Predicted XI

Well, it is time for the 5th and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka. It might well be a relief for the struggling Sri Lankan side and also for the fans, who only got to witness one-sided contests throughout India’s tour of the island nation so far. The 4th ODI was no different. The only wind of change was India batting first and apart from Rohit Sharma, this time the skipper Virat Kohli stepped up to register his first ton of the ODI series. Kohli was unbeaten on 82 during the first encounter and missed out on the next two games but made this one count.

Manish Pandey got a look in, and he made it count with an unbeaten half-century. Former skipper MS Dhoni is in red hot form, as he notched up his third successive unbeaten knock, this time just one short of a fifty. In the bowling department, Shardul Thakur got a look in and he did a decent job, considering the fact that it was his first game for the country.

Sri Lanka needed to win the last two games of the series to qualify for the 2019 World Cup without participating in the qualifiers. Their loss on Thursday means they will be watching the one-off ODI between West Indies and Ireland apart from the 5-match ODI series between West Indies and England. Let’s have a look at the likely playing eleven for the 5th ODI:

Openers (Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma)

29-year old Ajinkya Rahane had an impressive outing against West Indies, earlier this year. He scored 62, 103, 72, 60 and 39 in the 5-match ODI series against Windies. But with Shikhar Dhawan in red hot form and Rohit Sharma walking back to his cemented place, Rahane had to watch the play from the sidelines.  Now that Dhawan is out of the remaining tour, this will be another opportunity for Rahane to have shot at the opening spot.

Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, has scored two successive hundred and will look to better his already impressive limited overs record against Sri Lanka. It won’t be surprising to see a quickfire start to the final ODI, as both of them have tasted success in the recent games.

Middle order (Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni)

In the last game, all-rounder Hardik Pandya was promoted up the order instead of Manish Pandey. with almost 20 plus overs remaining, one had thought of seeing Pandey instead of pinch-hitter Pandya in the middle, but the team management certainly had some other plans.

Pandey knows the importance of the dead-rubber tomorrow. He has grabbed his chances well so far. The Karnataka-born batsman has been in fine form. Apart from scoring an unbeaten half-century in the last game, Pandey had a successful tour of South Africa with the Indian  A side. He will be raring to go out tomorrow.

Skipper Kohli is fresh from scoring his 29th ODI ton. The right-hander was firing on all cylinders in his last game, scoring a breathtaking 96-ball 131, which included 17 fours and 2 sixes. He will look to get to his 30th one in the final ODI. KL Rahul has been backed by the management in this ODI series. Rahul didn’t get to bat in the 1st ODI but managed only 28 runs in the last three games. A good performance in the final game will rest his case at least till the next series.

Whenever the chips are down, Dhoni delivers for India. The former skipper has bailed India out of danger in the 2nd and 3rd game and then went on to help the visitors get to a majestic score in the 4th ODI. So far in this series, we have seen the calculated play by him, but if a situation demands, the veteran of 300 ODIs can switch his gears and send the bowlers to the cleaners. Having ticked almost all the boxes in this series, a helicopter-powered innings might just complete the jigsaw.

All-rounders (Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel)

All-rounder Hardik Pandya was a hit during the Test series. He scored a fifty in his debut Test and ended the series by scoring his maiden hundred in the 3rd Test match. The transformation into the limited overs format hasn’t been too swift. Pandya has failed to make a mark with the bat. At Pallekele, in the 2nd ODI, he tried to go down the track to Akila Dhananjaya and lost the complete sight of the ball.

In the last ODI, Pandya was picked at the boundary, as he went for the big one. With the ball too, Pandya has been ineffective. He picked up just 4 wickets from 4 ODIs and was most expensive in his spells. With India preparing for the 2019 world cup, Pandya will look to seal his place without any bloopers.

23-year old Axar Patel started the series with impressive figures of 3/34 but failed to reproduce similar stats in the next three contests. Patel picked a wicket each in the last three ODIs and was a tad costly in the last game. The bowling all-rounder will be eager to make his mark, as the seasoned campaigners- Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are likely to take back their seats in the upcoming schedules.

Bowlers (Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah)

Kanpur’s Kuldeep Yadav is just 6 ODIs old but he has shown immense potential with his craft. Yadav made his debut during India’s last limited overs series against West Indies and was quite impressive through out the tour, He grabbed the opportunity that was offered to him in the last game and ended the game with two wickets.

One can argue that both of Yadav’s victims were tail-enders but the 22-year old was fairly economical. Along with Yadav, Shardul Thakur too is likely to get a longer rope. Thakur bowled 7 overs and picked up the opening wicket of the Sri Lankan innings- Niroshan Dickwella. He was the most economical pacer in from both sides and should be lauded for holding on to his nerves well.

The pacer with an unorthodox action, Jasprit Bumrah understands his business well. He picked his career best figures of 5/27 in the 3rd ODI and continued his good form by scalping 2 victims for 32 runs in the last game. Bumrah has picked up a total of 13 wickets in the series so far. The Sri Lankan batsmen failed to put him away, as the seamer kept the Lankans on their toes with his accuracy and pace. He will once again head the bowling department for India.