Sri Lanka, who have been outwitted in the matches at Guwahati and Kolkata despite showing some fight, will aim to end the tour on a high with a victory on their minds.
Though India have already clinched the ODI series against Sri Lanka by winning the first two matches, the Rohit Sharma-led side will aim for a clean sweep this afternoon.
In India’s build-up to the 2023 ODI World Cup, to be held in the country in October and November, they have done fairly well. Rohit, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli did very well with the bat in Guwahati.
Wicket-keeper-batter K.L. Rahul showed that he can be a reliable batter at number five when he shared vital stands with Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav in acing a chase of 216.
With the series already in the bag, it remains to be seen if India can experiment by getting Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in the playing eleven at Thiruvananthapuram. In terms of bowling, Kuldeep, Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik have been extremely impressive in bamboozling the Sri Lankan batters.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have shone, but in patches. In Guwahati, Pathum Nissanka scored 72, Dhananjaya de Silva made a 40-ball 47, and Dasun Shanaka smashed an unbeaten 102.
At Kolkata, Kusal Mendis and debutant Nuwanidu Fernando did well, but despite some lofty lower-order hits, Sri Lanka weren’t up to the mark with the bat.
With the ball, their bowlers did put up a much-improved performance in Kolkata after conceding 373 in Guwahati.
But they were unable to dislodge Rahul from the crease and were guilty of giving away many extras which did play a role in their being unable to save the series.
At Thiruvananthapuram, they would like for a performance where the bowlers and batters click in unison to give a strong fight to a formidable Indian team, who are aiming for a series sweep after the 2-1 series loss to Bangladesh in December 2022.
