India plot to end 22-year drought against Sri Lanka

Colombo, Aug 27 - India will fancy their chances of a series win in Sri Lanka after 22 years when the third and decisive Test begins at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) here on Friday.

Virat Kohli-led India slumped to a 63-run loss in the first Test at Galle despite dominating much of the match, but shook off the disappointment by thumping the hosts to a 278-run loss in the second Test at the P. Sara Oval here.

India are eyeing their first Test series win at the Island nation since 1993. But their ambitions may hit a roadblock due to injuries to key players.

India's batting will be considerably handicapped without the injured trio of regular openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.

But their loss can be Cheteshwar Pujara's gain as he is likely to be called up for action for the first time in the series. He is expected to be asked to open the innings alongside Lokesh Rahul in the absence of Dhawan and Vijay.

Uncapped Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who was added to the squad with young Karnataka batsman Karun Nair, is likely to step in for Bengal glovesman Saha.

But they will draw comfort from the fact that their opponents will also be affected by crucial absentees.

Sri Lanka will enter a new era in their cricketing history following the retirement of batting stalwart Kumar Sangakkara and the team's primary task will be to fill the void created at the top order by the legendary left-hander's departure.

They are yet to cope up from the departure of another batting giant Mahela Jayawardene, who quit all forms of international cricket earlier this year.

Sans this two heavyweights, Sri Lanka are visibly short on experience particularly in Tests, which demands greater skills from a batsman to succeed.

Skipper Angelo Mathews, with the wisdom of playing in 51 Tests, will be entrusted with greater responsibility in guiding the team both with the bat and ball.

He will look to veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, the hero of the first match, to provide him support.

Sri Lanka will be nursing the pain of not giving Sangakkara a winning farewell and Mathews has vowed to fight back and win the series for him.

They are expected to replace Sangakkara with another left-hander, Upul Tharanga, who has had a decent start to his Test career with 1,113 runs in 20 Tests.

India will hope their flourishing spin combination of offie Ravichandran Ashwin and leggie Amit Mishra will again do the job for them.

Mathews conceded Sri Lankan batsmen are yet to find a solution to tackling Ashwin, who has been their wrecker-in-chief with 17 wickets in the two Tests.

But the home team will draw confidence from its strong record at the ground, winning 18 and losing just six of the 38 Tests played and are yet face defeat for 11 years.

India's record is contrastingly poor, having lost two and drawn three of their last five matches at the venue. Their lone win was way back in 1993, which secured them their last series success at Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Mohammad Azharuddin.

The squads: India: Virat Kohli (captain), Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Naman Ojha (wicketkeeper), Karun Nair, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny.

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (captain), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Upul Tharanga, Jehan Mubarak, Kusal Perera, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Tharindu Kaushal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhammika Prasad, Vishwa Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera.