India registered a comfortable victory in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Sunday. Both teams meet again on Tuesday for the second ODI for the same venue. India are leading the series 1-0 and will head into the game looking to make it 2-0. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is in a must-win situation. They need to win the second ODI to stay alive in the series. They looked pretty ordinary in the first game and need to come up with a much better performance in the second. 

Sri Lanka vs India 2021, 2nd ODI Preview

Sri Lanka 

The Lankan side in recent times has not played the best cricket. They lost the white-ball series against England and in the first ODI against India, it was a reflection of the same. On a placid batting wicket, they won the toss and chose to bat first. They had a good start but then lost wickets at regular intervals to bring back their habit in recent times. At last, the score that they got was not too much of a challenge for the talented Indian side. They succumbed to yet another loss in what was a fairly one-sided contest. 

Moving on, in the second game, their batsmen in the second game need to come up with a much better effort. Their top-order got starts but failed to convert them into big runs for their team. Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa all got to their 20s and threw it away. Dasun Shanaka’s late blitz was not enough to see the team post a comfortable total. 

Their bowlers hardly had any experience to challenge the Indian batsmen and thus was not a big challenge. They should take the lessons learnt from the first game and bring that experience into the second game. 

As far as their changes in the second game is concerned, it is difficult to predict since all the players have round about the same experience. There are no injury concerns in the team which is good news. 

India 

The likes of Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav shone in the first ODI. While Shaw scored a brisk 43 before getting hit on the head and eventually getting out, Kishan scored a fifty on debut and Surya scored an unbeaten 31. Leading his team for the first time, Shikhar Dhawan anchored the chase scoring an unbeaten 86. 

The match was set up by the team for the bowlers. Kuldeep Yadav on his comeback picked two for 48. Yuzvendra Chahal picked up two for 52. This was the first time that the ‘KulCha’ pair played for the first time since the 2019 World Cup. 

Heading into the second game, India have a chance to test outa few players. As part of their rotational policy, Navdeep Sainican gt a look in place of Deepak Chahar. It will be interesting to see if Varun Chakravarty is given a game. Sanju Samson was injured during training and missed the first game. Manish Pandey’s low-score makes a case for Samson’s inclusion as well. 

Head To Head

Of the 166 ODI matches played between these two nations, 92 have been won by India and Sri Lanka has managed to win only 56 games. Out of the 78 ODI series played in total, 32 have been won by India and Sri Lanka has managed to win only 16. Out of the remaining, three have been drawn.

Pitch & Weather Conditions

The pitch is expected to be flat and batting-friendly again in the second ODI. There will be more help for the spinners than the pacers as was on show in the first ODI. Sri Lanka posted a below-par total opting to bat first in the first ODI. It will be interesting to see how much India scores if they win the toss and bat first. Dhawan spoke about batting first if he had won the toss in the first ODI. 

Squads

India

Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (Wicketkeeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya

Sri Lanka

Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Dhananjaya De Silva (Vice Captain), Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ashen Bandara, Minod Bhanuka, Lahiru Udara, Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan, Akila Dhananjaya, Shiran Fernando,Dhananjaya Lakshan, Ishan Jayaratne, Praveen Jayawickrema, Asitha Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Isuru Udana

Also Read: Sri Lanka vs India 2021: 2nd ODI – Dream11 Team Prediction, Fantasy Cricket Tips…

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