Who he replaces will be revealed not before the toss, but by the looks of it, Shivam Dube is likely to get the axe. Nonetheless… it's time for the toss. Fresh pitch but another dry deck on offer. A lot more cracks on this one though. Russell Arnold says 'it's a little more challenging for the batters'. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: In both the matches, when Sri Lanka batted first, India had the upper hand, but the lower order resistance shown by the hosts - through Dunith Wellalage's 67 and 39, and Kamindu Mendis' 40, allowed Sri Lanka to get a lot more than India would have expected. In both games, India should not have allowed Sri Lanka to score over 200, but they did and it cost the Men in Blue. India would want to avoid a hat-trick of this Sri Lankan fightback today if it comes down to it. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: In both matches that India have failed to close out, they have chased, which brings the spinners into play. Do India have a better chance of fairing against spin if they bat first? Ummm. Perhaps. Firstly, the pitch would be slightly better to bat on, and the batters can go at their own pace. Later, when it's Sri Lanka's turn to bat, Kuldeep, Sundar and Axar do to the what their spinners have been doing to India - work a spin web. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Rohit Sharma is back doing Rohit Sharma things. The India captain, with back-to-back half-centuries is the leading scorer of the series with 122 runs, whereas his Sri Lankan counterpart Charith Asalanka is leading the wickets chart with six scalps. Rohit has given his team explosive starts in both the games, but it was Asalanka and his timely strikes that have denied India wins. In the first ODI, Asalanka spoiled India's party, when defending 1 off 14 balls, he dismissed Shivam Dube and Arshdeep Singh off consecutive deliveries to force a tie and in the next picked up the wickets of Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Mohammed Siraj. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: One can't deny the fact that there's way too much shuffling going around in the Indian batting line-up, starting with Axar Patel's promotion. He has batted above and below KL Rahul in both matches, and while the move has paid off well - Axar scored 33 and 44 - it seems to have unsettled Rahul a bit you've got to believe. Besides, Shivam Dube batted at 8 in the first game and then 4 in the next. Irrespective of whatever the plan seems to be, expect a lot more of it during the Gautam Gambhir era of head coaching. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Shubman Gill's scores have been disappointing thus far, unbecoming of India's future captain. In fact, in the entire tour of Sri Lanka, Gill has been unable to convert starts. He got 34 and 39 in the T20Is and 16 and 35 in the two ODIs this far. He starts off well but loses steam, more so when Rohit gets out. Whereas how it should have played out is Gill taking the innings deep. Gill hasn't been the same player since his bout of dengue at the 2023 World Cup. But now is the time to go back to early 2023, where he would score runs and pummel centuries for fun. If Rohit gets going, and Gill supports, the Indian batting can look for some assurance. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Surprisingly, for a change, the Indian team management is publicly acknowledging that yes, there is something wrong. Not everything is right, something that the previous staff were probably hesitant. Abhishek Nayar, one of Gautam Gambhir's assistant coaches, accepted that the batting needs to come good and that there will be discussions about it. Why it's more concerning that this is a fully strong Indian team, whose batters are faring worse than their Sri Lankan counterparts. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Being one of India's greatest players of spin himself, that his players are not able to wrap their heads around what the Lankan spinners are throwing at them, must be pinching Gautam Gambhir. If you recall India's tour of Sri Lanka in 2008, where Ajantha Mendis was unleashed and he tore through the Indian batting line-up, only Sachin Tendulkar and Gambhir - and Virender Sehwag - to certain extent were able to read him well. Surely, Gambhir is imparting the same knowledge to this Indian team. Washington Sundar confirmed the same when he admitted that the head coach is giving tips to the players to help understand and tackle the Sri Lankan spinners better. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: To be honest, does it even matter? Like honestly, there was rain on forecast during the first two matches as well, a lot more than the 40 percent rain that has been predicted for today. So, does the forecast even have any reliability factor left? Around about this time last year, it was raining cats and dogs in Sri Lanka, with some matches in the Asia Cup getting washed out. This time around though, the rain appears to be a lot less relenting, ensuring a smooth ODI series, barring the one-off delay here and there. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Virat Kohli… what a game he had on June 29, cementing himself in the annals of Indian cricket by playing a Man-of-the-Match worthy innings in the final of the T20 World Cup and aptly closing his T20 career on a high. However, since his return, Kohli has looked a bit off. Call it ring rust or whatever, in both innings Kohli started off well before falling to spin - Wanindu Hasaranga in the first ODI and to Jeffrey Vandersay in the next. Kohli lacked a bit more assurance in the last game as he looked a bit susceptible against spin. However, all that needs to be put on the back-burner as India have a series to save. Kohli is their greatest batter, and the King needs to stand up and lead from the front to save India a streak that stretches to almost three decades. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: On the verge of a historic gold medal, Vinesh Phogat has been disqualified from the Paris Olympics. Vinesh, set to compete for the gold medal match later tonight, was observed to be a few grams over 50kg, a criteria big enough to strip her off contention. This means that Vinesh will now have to return empty-handed. There will be no silver medal given out in the women's 50kg freestyle event. Only gold - which her opponent Sarah Hilderbrandt of USA is all but assured of - and bronze medal. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Truth be told, Rohit Sharma has been the only batting positive for India in this series. The man, playing his first ODI series since the 2023 World Cup, doesn't seem to have missed a beat. With back-to-back fifties in the first two ODIs, he is India's biggest batting hope. But there seems to be a twist. Rohit skipped India's training session. We're hearing that it was an optional session but even then, with the rest of the batters having a go and Rohit skipping the same, is there anything to worry about? Rohit seemed to be favouring his right shoulder so not taking part in the nets could be a precautionary measure. There is no official word about his participation yet, so it could be a false alarm. Then again, the true picture will be out only in and around toss time. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Charith Asalanka is primarily a batter, but the Indian team has lately been troubled more by his bowling than batting. With the bat, Asalanka has scored 62 runs in the last five ODIs against India but has stunningly taken 10 wickets in the same number of matches. His off-spin troubled India during the Super 4 match of the Asia Cup last year and is continuing to do so here too. Asalanka's 3/14 in the first ODI - where he dismissed Shivam Dube and Arshdeep Singh off the last two balls of the match - followed up by 3/25 is something India need to avoid if they are to save this series. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: With the completing of today's ODI, Indian cricket will be taking a break of 43 days. The Indian players have been on the road long enough, starting the IPL to the T20 World Cup to a T20I series Zimbabwe and now Sri Lanka. Fans are not used to such a long break, so savour every bit of the 100 overs that are to be bowled today. After today, India's next match is straightaway on September 19, when they take on Bangladesh. India, runner-up in the last two editions of the World Test Championship, will be hoping to be a third time lucky and the road starts to the WTC final starts with a two-Test series against the Tigers. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: SURPRISE, SURPRISE! Today's ODI marks the end of India's 50-overs fixtures for the year. Which means that in 2024, India would have played only a total of six ODIs. Pretty strange because the next big ICC event - the Champions Trophy takes place seven months from now - will be contested in the ODI format. India do have a couple of bilateral white-ball series - against Bangladesh and New Zealand in September/October - but they're T20Is. The only other ODI series India will be playing ahead of CT is against England early next year. From featuring in a 7-match ODI series in 2013 to competing in 6 in 2024, cricket really has come a long way. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: The emotionally-charged Indian fan would say an emphatic yes. But the more rationale, long term belied would say no. It's always about the long-term planning. India have a Champions Trophy title to win next year, and in all likelihood, this team, barring maybe Hardik Pandya, is expected to form the core of that squad. It's easy to say replace KL Rahul with Rishabh Pant or drop Washington Sundar for Riyan Parag. But ask yourself. Do you really see them going to play CT. Pant, maybe yes. But Parag? The guy is looked at more of a T20 asset at this moment. So perhaps ODIs can wait. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Unfortunately, this isn't the first time that India have been troubled by spin. This pattern has played out way too many times in Tests and is becoming glaringly alarming in ODIs. Whenever the wickets are batting friendly, the Indian batting thrives. But the moment the surfaces are dry, the batting, especially the middle order has a tough time. Look no beyond the World Cup final. India slowed down considerably after Rohit's wicket fell. The first two ODIs have mirrored it. Even during last year's Asia Cup Super-Four game, India endured something similar, when Dunith Wellalage's 5/40 and Charith Asalanka's 4/18 reduced them to 213 after a blazing start of 80 without loss. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 1st ODI: Well, the first match ended in a tie. Since these are the ODIs and there are no Super-Overs unless it's an ICC tournament, there was no winner. With the series technically reduced to a 2-match affair, the Sri Lankan spinners. Or spinner as we should say Jeffrey Vandersay did an Ajantha Mendis. India had no clue how to play him and the leg-spinner raced away to a six-wicket-haul. His wickets included that of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. A mighty fine effort one must say. Two batting collapses in two matches with a not-so-steep total to chase in either has pushed India into a must-win situation. India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, IND vs SL 3rd ODI: A very good morning to all the wonderful cricket fans out there. We know the Olympics are red-hot at the moment and the nation awaits its first gold medal from Vinesh Phogat, but while the action unfolds in Paris, there is no death of excitement in Colombo either, where your beloved Indian cricket team, the reigning T20 World Champions, are in a bit of a spot and will be fighting to save the series. We know what you're thinking. India? Losing a bilateral series? Against Sri Lanka? Yeah, we're perplexed too. But that's all the more reason to stay hooked to cricket, right?