Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka elected to bat on winning the toss against India in the Asia Cup final at the sold-out R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday. However, heavy drizzle right after the toss meant that the final could have rain stoppages, and as of now the whole ground is covered.
Shanaka went in with a solitary change in his Playing XI, with leg-spinner Dushan Hemantha replacing Maheesh Theekshana, who picked up a hamstring injury during their Super Four match against Pakistan.
India, on the other hand, made wholesale changes, with all five senior players returning to the XI after being rested for the inconsequential clash against Bangladesh on Friday. As such, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj returned to the team in place of Tilak Verma, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna.
Off-spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar, who was flown to Colombo on the eve of the final after left-arm spinner Axar Patel was ruled out of the series with a left quadriceps strain, was included in the Playing XI as the sixth change for the visitors.
Weather predictions
According to AccuWeather, thunderstorms and rain are predicted between 6 pm to 10 pm on Sunday, meaning there could be brief stoppages in play during the Asia Cup final. While the weather forecast is not as bad as some of the previous matches, there are high chances of disruptions.
In case, rain plans to play spoilsport in the final, the Reserve Day will be activated on Monday. Like the India vs Pakistan thriller, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has also kept Monday as the reserve day for the Asia Cup 2023 final. In case the weather conditions don’t allow the match on Sunday, the game will resume from the same point on Monday.
Teams:
Sri Lanka: Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (C), Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Matheesha Pathirana, Pramod Madushan
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah