Debut for Shiraz as Sri Lanka bat; Rahul, Iyer return but Pant left out

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India also picked Shivam Dube as the pace-bowling allrounder

Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat vs India

Charith Asalanka won the toss in his first match as Sri Lanka’s ODI captain and opted to bat against India in the first ODI at the Khettarama.

Having been ravaged by injury and illness – no less than five of Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers are unavailable – the hosts handed an international debut to seamer Mohamed Shiraz. In his most recent List A game, the 29-year-old had bagged career-best figures of 6 for 21.

As for India, they welcomed back both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, and picked Shivam Dube ahead of Riyan Parag. KL Rahul, the incumbent ODI wicketkeeper, retained his place in the XI, which means Rishabh Pant will have to wait for his ODI comeback following his life-threatening car crash in December 2022. Shreyas Iyer also retained his middle-order spot in ODIs and will be playing his first international game after losing his central contract.

Washington Sundar, who was the Player of the Series in the T20I series in Zimbabwe and then helped India to a Super Over victory in Pallekele, was selected as the spin-bowling allrounder along with Axar Patel. Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav will lead India’s three-man spin attack on a dry Colombo pitch.

Sri Lanka also picked three spinners, with Akila Dananjaya getting the nod ahead of Maheesh Theekshana. Wanindu Hasaranga and Dunith Wellalage will round out their spin attack.

Rohit expects the pitch to get “slower and slower” as the game progresses, but didn’t mind batting second.

Sri Lanka: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka (capt), 6 Janith Liyanage, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Dunith Wellalage, 9 Akila Dananjaya, 10 Asitha Fernando, 11 Mohamed Shiraz

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo