Perera invites India to bat in Dharamsala

Newly-appointed Sri Lanka skipper Thisara Perera won the toss and decided to bowl first at the picturesque HPCA stadium in Dharamsala on Sunday.

New Delhi: Newly-appointed Sri Lanka skipper Thisara Perera won the toss and decided to bowl first at the picturesque HPCA stadium in Dharamsala on Sunday.

The visitors are on a 12-match losing streak and Perera will have a daunting task to lead his side to victory against the high on confidence hosts led by stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma.

Perera will be happy to have the likes of Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne and Danushka Gunathilaka back in the coloured outfit.

India will be without their top performer and regular skipper Virat Kohli while, young Shreyas Iyer will make his first ODI appearance in the 50-over format. Rohit Sharma recevied a last-minute boost as Shikhar Dhawan, who was in doubt for the series opener till last night, is fit and will open the Indian innings with the skipper.

But, Ajinkya Rahane, who had a good run in the last few ODI's misses out from the playing XI

Virat-less Indian side is on a seven-series winning streak and a lot will be at stake when Rohit Sharma takes the field for the first time as an India captain. A win at Dharamsla will take India to the top of the ICC ranking.

Interestingly, when Sri Lanka last played in India, Rohit Sharma smashed a world-record 264 runs in Kolkata.

IND XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (C), Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (W), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

SL XI: Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella (W), Thisara Perera (C), Sachith Pathirana, Suranga Lakmal, Akila Dananjaya, Nuwan Pradeep