Riyan Parag To Make Debut, Pant In For KL Rahul? India’s Likely Playing XI For 3rd ODI Against Sri Lanka

After suffering a shocking defeat by 32 runs in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Sunday (August 4), the Rohit Sharma-led Indian men’s cricket team would like to come up with a big show in the third and final ODI of the ongoing three-match series on Wednesday (August 7).

The world No. 1 ODI team will be desperate to get the better of Sri Lanka in the final match of the tour, which is scheduled to take place at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, to avoid the embarrassment of losing an ODI series against injury-hit Sri Lanka.

After a poor show by middle-order batters in the first two ODIs, Indian team management is likely to make multiple changes to the playing XI for the must-win match. Assam cricketer Riyan Parag, who is part of the ODI squad for the first time in his career, could make his debut.

The 22-year-old Parag is a reliable middle-order batter, and in addition to that, he can also bowl. During the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Pallekele on July 27, he even picked up three wickets for five runs.

Shivam Dube, who bowled a couple of overs in the second ODI but failed to score any run as the No. 4 batter could make way for Parag. In addition to Parag, there is a high possibility that Rishabh Pant will also be seen in action during the series decider.

Pant, who played in all eight matches of the T20 World Cup 2024 for India, warmed the bench in the first two ODIs, as KL Rahul was preferred over him as wicketkeeper-batter. But after a flop show by Rahul in the second ODI, Pant can come in his place.

In the bowling, India will have high hopes from the pacer duo of Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh, as well as Kuldeep Yadav in the third ODI. Siraj, who has an excellent record in ODIs against Sri Lanka, has failed to live up to expectations so far, whereas Arshdeep has also looked a bit off-colour.

India’s likely playing XI for the 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.