Sri Lanka's captain, Kusal Mendis, won the toss and chose to field first in a pivotal league match of the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 at the Wankhede stadium on Thursday. Mendis explained that they believe batting second would be more advantageous on this pitch and emphasized the importance of the upcoming three games for their team.
Sri Lanka has made one change in their lineup compared to the team that suffered a defeat to Afghanistan in Pune a couple of days ago, with Dushan Hemantha coming in for Dhananjaya de Silva.
On the other side, India's captain, Rohit Sharma, stated that he would have preferred to bat first had he won the toss. He acknowledged that it's a good pitch that provides some assistance to the bowlers initially. Rohit also expressed his pride in captaining India at the World Cup, given his history of playing the game there. He stressed the team's commitment to continuous improvement and the need to stay balanced.
The playing XIs for both teams are as follows:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis (c, wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka.rate for the verified ITRs.
(With Agency Inputs)
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