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England Test captain Ben Stokes will play no part in the early stages of Durham’s County Championship campaign, but head coach Ryan Campbell firmly believes the allrounder will be operating at 100 per cent for his country this summer.Stokes is currently undergoing rehab from hamstring surgery at the start of year, after tearing the muscle twice in six months, including aggravating the injury in the final Test of England’s tour of New Zealand. The 33-year-old has not played since, but has stepped up his recovery, with a recent video posted on his Instagram showing he has started bowling again.England begin their Test summer against Zimbabwe on May 22 at Trent Bridge, which leads into a five-match series against India. With a trip to Australia for the Ashes to follow, Stokes will use the next few weeks to reinforce his body for the rigours of 11 Test matches in the space of eight months. Having suffered the first hamstring tear during the Hundred last year, he has already pulled out of representing Northern Superchargers this August to rest after the India series, with the Ashes set to begin in Perth on November 21.Stokes has frequented Chester-le-Street during his rehabilitation, and was there on Monday during Durham’s media day, performing shuttle runs on the outfield. He is one of a trio of England players returning from injury under the club’s watch, along with Brydon Carse and Mark Wood. Carse is currently recovering from a left toe injury which forced him to leave last month’s Champions Trophy, while Wood underwent surgery to his left knee a fortnight ago which has effectively ruled him out of the Test summer.Related

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With all three integral to England’s plans, particularly in Australia, Campbell insists no risks will be taken.”At this stage, they’re probably not likely to play for us,” he said. “My expectation is that it’ll be zero – anything else is an added bonus.”They’re all coming back from serious injuries. The facts are that they need to get up and running by the time the Test matches start.”Durham will play six Division One fixtures ahead of the Zimbabwe Test. As such, it is possible Stokes could use one of the latter rounds to tune up, should he feel the need.”What we know about Stokesy is that he’s here nearly every single day working his butt off. The guy had hamstring surgery and was in the next day lifting weights, which I couldn’t believe. He sets the bar, wherever he is.”He’s such a hard-working bloke and he’ll do whatever it takes to be up and running for England, which is really exciting for England fans.”For Durham fans, if he happens to play a game or two along the way, great. If he doesn’t, I know he’ll be checking the scores and ringing me to tell me what we should and shouldn’t be doing.”Campbell also called for extra patience and caution around Carse and the continued issues with the right-arm quick’s landing foot, which became unmanageable during England’s second Champions Trophy group-stage match against Australia. The 29-year old emerged from the winter as a vital cog across all formats, particularly in Test cricket, taking 27 wickets at 19.85 in five appearances against Pakistan and New Zealand.”I think Brydon Carse is probably the number one priority for England right now,” said Campbell.”With what he’s shown in Test cricket, he’s born for that sort of stuff. There’s 11 Tests over the summer and winter, and I think he’s going to be number one on England’s list to make sure that he’s ready to go for that.”We’ve known about his foot problems for a year now. It’s not new, but he needs to get it right if he’s going to be playing a lot of Test cricket.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has asked the ICC for an explanation after the Champions Trophy tournament director Sumair Ahmed was not included in the post-final presentation ceremony in Dubai on Sunday. Sumair, who is also the chief operating officer of the PCB, was in Dubai for the final in his capacity as tournament director and Pakistan’s representative at the final. Pakistan were official hosts of the Champions Trophy.After India beat New Zealand to secure the title, four officials were part of the presentation ceremony, including Jay Shah, the ICC chair, two from the BCCI, one from New Zealand Cricket but none from the PCB. Other than Shah, the officials present were BCCI president Roger Binny, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and NZC director Roger Twose. It is not customary for representatives of nations playing the final to feature in post-tournament ICC ceremonies, unless the final involves the host country.ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB was puzzled by the presence of Saikia, given that one BCCI official – Binny – was on stage anyway. But it is the exclusion of the host representative that has most antagonised the board. Representatives of the host nation are generally part of trophy presentations. The PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi was originally meant to be part of the presentations but the PCB said he was unwell and unable to travel to Dubai. They expected Sumair to stand in as Pakistan’s representative.Related

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While it is understood the PCB did not reach out to the ICC to inform it that Sumair would take Naqvi’s place on the podium, the Pakistan board believes the onus was on the ICC to contact it about Naqvi’s replacement. The PCB is aggrieved no ICC representative reached out to the board at any stage during the final to discuss plans for a Pakistani presence on the podium post-match.A PCB official said the ICC was yet to respond to the PCB with any explanation. ESPNcricinfo has also reached out to the ICC for a comment.The final was held in Dubai as part of a deal struck between the PCB and the BCCI. Naqvi was initially adamant the entirety of the tournament – the first ICC event Pakistan has hosted since 1996 – would be held in Pakistan. However, the BCCI said the Indian government had refused permission to their cricket team to travel to Pakistan. As such, the two boards reached an arrangement that saw India play all their games in Dubai, with all ICC events the two nations host over the next three years seeing the other side play their games at a separate neutral venue.This is the third time this tournament the PCB has approached the ICC for explanation following incidents they feel have undermined Pakistan as official hosts of the Champions Trophy. During the second game of the tournament, when India played Bangladesh in Dubai, Pakistan’s name was omitted from the logo on the official broadcast.The following day, when Australia played England at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the Indian national anthem briefly began to play instead of the Australian anthem. The PCB squarely held the ICC responsible, saying the anthem playlist was produced and distributed by the governing body, with the ICC in charge of playing the anthems before the matches. The ICC put the absence of the logo down to error, while, according to the PCB, the global governing body offered its regrets for the anthem mix-up and put it down to a DJ error.

Sonny Baker, Hampshire’s 21-year-old fast bowler, has been awarded an England Men’s development contract by the ECB after impressing for the Lions.Baker, a former England Under-19, came through at Somerset before joining Hampshire over the winter. He was called up for the England Lions tour of Australia, making his first-class debut against Australia A in the final tour match and finishing with figures of 3 for 60.His performances, which also included a match haul of 5 for 71 against a Cricket Australia XI, caught the eye of Lions head coach, Andrew Flintoff, with the ECB subsequently putting him on contract until September.”It has been an absolute pleasure to see Sonny thrive over the winter,” Flintoff said. “He and I are very different in character and personality, but it has been a delight to see the pride he takes in wearing the Three Lions, the energy he brings to every ball, and the theatre and magic he creates on the pitch.”His professionalism and dedication to every aspect of his game are an example to all. Sonny has a bright future ahead, and we look forward to continuing to work with him and Hampshire over the coming years.”

South Australian quick Jordan Buckingham starred with four wickets to help Australia A secure a thumping innings and 10-run win against the England Lions.Australia’s decision to go with a bowler-heavy line-up paid off, running through the Lions twice in a day and a half at Cricket Central in Sydney to end the match on day three.Related

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After being skittled for just 116 in 37.3 overs on Friday, England showed more resistance in their second innings.Lions opener Ben McKinney posted a brilliant run-a-ball 110 to halt Australia’s momentum. But McKinney received little help, with Matty Hurst (35), Alex Davies (28) and Rocky Flintoff (21) the only other batters to reach double figures.After going wicketless in the first innings, Buckingham took the new ball with Queensland quick Xavier Bartlett and finished with figures of 4 for 41.Allrounders Aaron Hardie and Will Sutherland also had productive stints with the ball.Australia opted to pick just five specialist batters, but it mattered little as they made 373 for 9 after being sent in to bat on Thursday.Former Test batter Kurtis Patterson further pressed his claim for an international comeback after hitting a superb 137. Facing Test players Shoaib Bashir and Josh Tongue, No. 3 Patterson arrived at the crease in the first over of the game after opener Tim Ward fell for a duck.It has been a remarkable turnaround for 31-year-old Patterson, who began the summer playing grade cricket for St George after being dropped and stripped of the NSW captaincy.

Prabath Jayasuriya now has ten five-wicket hauls in Test cricket. For context, that’s more than all but the three greatest Sri Lanka bowlers – Muttiah Muralitharan (67), Rangana Herath (34) and Chaminda Vaas (12).That Jayasuriya has got to double-figures in a mere 18 Tests is a reflection of how consistent he has been. But there is also the suggestion that his Test record looks especially snazzy because he’s played so many Tests in Galle (spin-bowling heaven, essentially). There is some truth to this – eight of his Tests have been in Galle, and eight of his five-fors came there. So this five-for, in Gqeberha, has meant a lot.Jayasuriya plays in a team in which on the spiciest greentops they can genuinely consider leaving out a spinner entirely and, in fact, they had almost made that choice for this second Test. But the way this game has played out, Sri Lanka would not still be in the match – however marginally – were it not for Jayasuriya’s 5 for 129 in the second innings.Related

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“An overseas five-for is something that I had targeted for a long time,” Jayasuriya said after the fourth day. “Getting wickets away from home was something I had worried about at times, because people questioned my ability to do that. When we play outside home, and in SENA [South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia] countries, my role is quite different. I always try to do what I can do for the team. I’m very happy I was able to get this five-wicket haul in a place like South Africa.”Much of his success on day four, when he took three wickets including that of the series’ best batter Temba Bavuma, came from bowling over the wicket into the rough outside the right-handers’ leg stump.”It’s still a good pitch to bat on, and will be tomorrow as well,” he said. “The decision was between bowling into areas that were still good for batting, or to bowl into areas where there was some help in the surface. At that time, between the captain, coach and head coach, we decided to try that strategy [of bowling into the rough], and it was successful.”Prabath Jayasuriya celebrates one of his five wickets in the second dig•Associated Press

Jayasuriya had returns of 1 for 84 on a very grassy surface that did not have a lot of turn on offer in the first innings. But he revealed that he was unhappy with his bowling in that innings, and made tweaks to be in better shape for the second.”In the first innings, I wasn’t able to pitch the ball exactly where I wanted,” Jayasuriya said. “Afterwards, I went to the spin-bowling coach Piyal Wijetunge, and to our analyst-coach Jehan Mubarak, and looked at the videos before I came to bowl in the second innings.”There was a technical error, and I was able to come the next day, train for a bit, and though I wasn’t able to fix it 100%, I was able to get it about 90% right.”Jayasuriya likely has a further role to play in this Test – with the bat, he is the next man in. If Sri Lanka are to clinch an unlikely victory from this position (they are 143 runs shy, with five wickets in hand), they will almost certainly need runs from him as well.”Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva have experience and the potential to do this [win the game],” Jayasuriya said. “The first hour tomorrow is vital. That hour will decide where this match goes. If we win that hour, we’ll definitely win the game. We only need 143, and between these batters and the tailenders, we have to plan and figure out how to get there.”

Cameron Bancroft’s bid for a Test recall took another hit after a fourth consecutive failure to start the Sheffield Shield season. But Josh Inglis continued to press his case while Hilton Cartwright capped a whirlwind few days to guide Western Australia to a six-wicket victory over Tasmania at the WACA.With WA chasing just 83 runs under sunny conditions early on the final day, Bancroft had a golden opportunity for a confidence boosting innings having scored just eight runs in his first three Shield innings.Related

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But he looked uncomfortable from the get go against probing new ball bowling from quicks Riley Meredith and Kieran Elliott. With the pressure building having scored just two runs from his first 15 deliveries, Bancroft decided to attack but miscued a pull shot off Meredith to fine leg and trudged off with his Test hopes to fill the vacant opener’s slot having seemingly nosedived.”He’s pretty good to be honest…keeping things really simple,” WA captain Sam Whiteman said of Bancroft. “I think it’s a matter of time. Each fail…he’s one closer to a big score. He’s a pretty positive guy.”The low target proved tricky for WA and the tension heightened among the sprinkling of fans when they slumped to 18 for 4 after Whiteman, Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Hardie fell to Elliott, who conjured movement from the grassy wicket.It was a quiet match for Marsh, who had scores of 9 and 6 as a specialist batter at No. 4. He had stated ahead of the match that he would build up his bowling loads, but a return with the ball has been put on hold.There appeared to be some tense scenes between Hilton Cartwright and Tasmania•Getty Images

Inglis and Cartwright steadied the ship with a quick half-century partnership to guide WA over the line. Having scored two game-changing centuries to start the season, Inglis again looked at ease to finish 26 not out from 36 balls.Cartwright remained unbeaten on 39 from 50 balls to cap a remarkable match after he had to dash from the ground at tea on day two when his wife went into labour. He returned on day three to resume his innings on 52 after the birth of his second child in the early hours. Cartwright needed Tasmania to agree for him to return to the crease.There appeared to be tension on the field on day four with Cartwright engaged in a war of words with Tasmania opener Jake Weatherald. They had a lengthy exchange while shaking hands after the match.Tasmania started day four in a forlorn position with a lead of just 80 runs and one wicket in hand. They only added two runs before quick Brody Couch claimed his fourth wicket of the innings after trapping Meredith in front of the creaseAfter a patchy performance in his WA debut against Queensland, Couch was outstanding throughout to finish with match figures of 7 for 83 and touching speeds of 143kph.

Australia vs New Zealand

Sharjah, 6pm local timeAustralia squad: Alyssa Healy (capt & wk), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia WarehamNew Zealand squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Isabella Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea TahuhuTournament form guide: Both teams started their campaigns with emphatic wins. Defending champions Australia handed Sri Lanka a six-wicket loss and New Zealand stunned India by 58 runs.News brief: These two teams had just met for a three-match T20I series in Australia, who won 3-0. New Zealand also came into the tournament with a winless streak of 10 straight games but the manner in which they took on India, from ball one, belied their recent form and was the best kind of start they could have had before running into their trans-Tasman rivals. The toss many not be as crucial in Sharjah for the evening game because not as much dew is expected there, proven by the wins registered by the teams batting first there in the evening games. The pitches there have kept low, turned, and not offered much for the batters, with not even one team crossing 120, before the England vs South Africa clash.Player to watch: Amelia Kerr is a top allrounder, but it’s her T20I record against Australia that doesn’t do justice to her reputation. Her batting strike rate against them is under 96 with an average of under 18, and her economy rate is over seven an over even though she has picked 16 wickets – the joint-most for her against any opponent – against them. She would want to leak fewer runs on Tuesday in spin-friendly conditions while continuing to take wickets, and also show her technique against spin while batting whether her team requires quick runs or a more watchful approach, depending on conditions and match situation.

When the going got tough, three of England’s most senior players stepped up to preserve their unbeaten start to the T20 World Cup.Sophie Ecclestone – the spearhead of England’s four-woman spin attack – contained a threatening South Africa with her 2 for 15 from four overs, despite their 124 for 6 making them the first side to pass 120 in Sharjah’s run-scoring desert. Then came Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nat Sciver-Brunt, two vastly experienced batters who shared a 64-run stand for the third wicket to see England home by seven wickets with four balls to spare, and give them two wins from as many games.Ecclestone has been at the top of the world T20I rankings for four-and-a-half-years, yet went wicketless in England’s tournament opener against Bangladesh.On Monday, South Africa were looking strong at 37 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, then Ecclestone entered in the seventh over and straight away enticed a thick edge from Laura Wolvaardt, although wicketkeeper Amy Jones couldn’t hold a difficult chance.Ecclestone returned in the 11th over and conceded just two runs while threatening the top of a struggling Anneke Bosch’s middle stump. Then, crucially, Ecclestone removed South Africa’s two most dangerous batters, Wolvaardt swiping across the line as the ball crashed into middle and leg and Marizanne Kapp, who was ominously poised on 26 from 17 balls when she charged and missed to hear the death rattle behind her.Sciver-Brunt said that England’s opening match against Bangladesh had taught them the best way to deploy Ecclestone in Sharjah, where the pitch has been slow and the boundaries are vast.”She’s a bowler that can bowl wherever in the innings,” Sciver-Brunt said. “Saving her for a couple overs for when batters really want to get after her, having had a go on that wicket already, we learned pretty well that’s what would be really difficult, and she executed that really well.”Both sides were left to rue chances and half-chances, and England’s run-chase spluttered early on before the senior pair hit their stride.When Maia Bouchier strode down the pitch and lofted Kapp down the ground for a one-bounce four, it was England’s first shot in anger, as they reached 8 for 0 after three overs.After the powerplay, England were 28 for 1, Alice Capsey having arrived when Bouchier was out lbw to Kapp and trying to get things moving with two boundaries off one Chloe Tryon over.Related

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Capsey’s soft return catch to Nadine de Klerk prompted Wyatt-Hodge to get creative. She lapped Nonkululeko Mlaba, though the shot only went for two, and tried a couple of times to launch Sune Luus down the ground before latching onto one over the bowler’s head for four.Her 41 from 40 deliveries had been the standout performance of England’s victory over Bangladesh, and her run-a-ball 43 kept England in a close contest against South Africa while being more patient than usual.”It’s funny because she’s been very frustrated for both of the innings,” Sciver-Brunt said. “She’s probably used to being 70 off 40, but the innings that she’s playing for us are so important, and just being able to hit it in areas that only she can [find] probably makes her quite difficult to bowl at, even in these conditions. Hopefully she can continue doing that and not get too frustrated.”Sciver-Brunt, by contrast, is characteristically unflappable, and she moved up a gear in the 15th over with twin leg-side fours off Kapp’s fourth.By the time Wyatt-Hodge was stumped off Mlaba, England needed 11 off the last two overs and two more boundaries from Sciver-Brunt, including the winning runs clubbed over extra cover off Ayabonga Khaka saw them home.”When I came to the middle, obviously we were a little bit behind the rate,” Sciver-Brunt said. “But I knew that [would change] if me and Danni stayed together, put a partnership together, ran really well. I think that from the first game, that’s something we really wanted to do, run really well between the wickets, knowing that boundaries are quite hard to hit on that wicket. The importance of running twos and then maneuvering fielders out the way so that you can hit into a gap a bit easier. That was the plan.”England’s next match is against Scotland on Sunday, meaning an extended period of down-time before they return to Sharjah again with qualification very much in their own hands.”Two wins out of two, we’re pretty happy,” Sciver-Brunt said. “We’ve got about a five-day gap now until our next game so we’ll be taking that time to reset, have a couple of days off and then go again. We’re really happy to get over the line today and I’ll just be celebrating that.”

India have named a familiar-looking squad for the women’s T20 World Cup 2024 retaining the bulk of the side that qualified for the final of the women’s T20 Asia Cup in July this year.Fourteen of the 15 players in the World Cup squad were also part of the Asia Cup side, with only Uma Chetry missing out. India have instead picked Yastika Bhatia, but her inclusion is subject to fitness, and so is Shreyanka Patil’s, after she suffered a fractured finger in her left hand during an Asia Cup game against Pakistan.Bhatia, the wicketkeeper-batter, was Mumbai Indians’ third-highest run-scorer in WPL 2024 with 204 runs in in eight outings. She played the first T20I against Bangladesh in Sylhet in April but has been out of action since. She is currently recuperating at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for an injury in her left knee.Tanuja Kanwar, who replaced Patil in the India squad for the Asia Cup, has not been included, but has been named among the travelling reserves. Along with Kanwar, Chetry, also a wicketkeeper-batter, and fast bowler Saima Thakor have been named in the reserves. Batter Raghvi Bist and legspinner Priya Mishra, who were both part of the India A squad that travelled to Australia recently, have been named non-travelling reserves.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Harmanpreet Kaur will continue leading the side, with Smriti Mandhana the vice-captain. Along with the two, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma are expected to form the spine of the batting. Renuka Singh will lead the fast-bowling unit alongside Pooja Vastrakar. Deepti, Radha Yadav and Patil are the main spinners.India are placed in Group A at the World Cup along with Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and are targeting their first women’s T20 World Cup title.The tournament was originally set to be played in Bangladesh, but was shifted to the UAE last week in the aftermath of the countrywide anti-government agitations in Bangladesh, with a number of countries issuing travel advisories to their citizens against travelling to the country..The tournament gets underway on October 3 in Sharjah with the final slotted for October 20 in Dubai. India begin their campaign against New Zealand in Dubai on October 4 in an evening game and will play Pakistan on October 6 at the same venue.

India squad for Women’s T20 World Cup

Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Yastika Bhatia* (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil*, Sajeevan Sajana

Big picture: SL hit by injuries and illness

Sri Lanka just can’t catch a break. While still reeling from the almost comical nature of the defeat in the final T20I, one which handed India a 3-0 series sweep – and possibly a multitude of nervous breakdowns to those watching, their preparations for the ODI leg have been hampered significantly by the injury or illness-related absence of no less than five of their fast bowlers.This has meant that the uncapped Mohamed Shiraz and Eshan Malinga have been called up to hopefully – keeping all fingers and toes crossed here – provide support for the only other fit seamer in the squad in Asitha Fernando, and the all-round stylings of Chamika Karunaratne.The one silver lining in all this is that it might, however briefly, take their minds off the last two times these sides met in a 50-over contest, where Sri Lanka collectively scored 105 runs. In fact, across their last four ODI meetings, Sri Lanka have failed to reach triple digits on three occasions.Related

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• Pathirana and Madushanka out of ODIs against India

That said, their best course of action might be to not put too much stock in the results of these upcoming games. Their next major ODI tournament is the World Cup in 2027 – they did not make it to the 2025 Champions Trophy – so focusing on the process and looking to put in place the right foundations may be the right play for the time being.In terms of recent form, Sri Lanka have had success in ODIs this year against Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, but their last ODI win against India was back in July 2021. That result had brought an end to a five-match losing streak against India – in fact, each of Sri Lanka’s last three ODI victories against India have come in service of disrupting five-game losing streaks. So if you are looking for a straw to clutch onto, Sri Lanka’s current losing streak to India in ODIs stands at six. Something’s surely gotta give, right?As far as India go, this is just the next step in a pristinely mapped-out path to the Champions Trophy. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are back in the fold, with the team’s primary focus on ironing out kinks and settling into a nice team combination. You also imagine they will be quietly hoping for a sterner challenge than what was on offer in the T20Is.

Form guide

Sri Lanka LWLWW (last five ODIs, most recent first)
India WLWLW

In the spotlight: Pathum Nissanka and Kuldeep Yadav

It’s clear that Sri Lanka are still struggling to rectify their longstanding middle- and lower-order struggles; much of their recent success has been borne out of top-order contributions. The primary source of this has been Pathum Nissanka. His 497 runs across six ODIs is comfortably the most by any batter in the world this year. Not just that, his strike rate of 122.41 is also the best among those with at least 200 runs. Sri Lanka will need Nissanka at the top of his game if they are to challenge this well-rounded Indian outfit.Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir share a light moment during training•Ishara S Kodikara/AFP via Getty Images

With the action moving from Kandy to Colombo, the balance between bat and ball should also shift. The Khettarama has traditionally been one where scores of 300 or more are on the rarer side, with spin tending to play a pivotal role. Enter Kuldeep Yadav, who played an important part in India’s recent T20 World Cup triumph but sat out the T20Is against Sri Lanka. While Ravi Bishnoi and, particularly, Riyan Parag impressed in his stead, Kuldeep will be keen to make his mark on the tour.

Team news: Rohit, Kohli, Kuldeep return

Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling contingent is in disarray, but with the wicket likely to favour spin they may opt to go in with just the two frontline seamers. Provided they want an extra spin option, Dunith Wellalage might be preferred over Chamika Karunaratne.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Mendis, 3 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 4 Kamindu Mendis, 5 Charith Asalanka (capt), 6 Janith Liyanage, 7 Dunith Wellalage/Chamika Karunaratne, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Mohamed Shiraz/Eshan Malinga, 11 Asitha FernandoIndia’s top order picks itself, but it’s lower down where there may be some experimentation. With Hardik Pandya not part of the ODI series, one of Shivam Dube and Parag will fill in as a batting allrounder. If Parag gets the nod, India might have the luxury of playing three frontline seamers, meaning one of Khaleel Ahmed and the uncapped Harshit Rana could get a game.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Rishabh Pant/KL Rahul (wk), 6 Shivam Dube/Riyan Parag, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Khaleel Ahmed/Harshit Rana, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Pitch and conditions: Rain in the air

If the recent Lanka Premier League is to go by, the conditions for batting might have improved in Colombo compared to recent years, but there is still a fair amount in it for the bowlers, particularly the spinners. But getting a complete game on Friday might be tricky, with pockets of heavy rain expected throughout the day.

Stats and trivia: India’s dominance

• Only Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan among Full Members have a worse win-loss ratio against India over the past ten years than Sri Lanka. In that time India and Sri Lanka have played 24 ODIs, with Sri Lanka winning just three.
• Kohli’s 2594 runs are the second-most by an opposition batter against Sri Lanka in ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar sits atop the list with 3113.
• Since the start of 2023, no batter has more runs in ODIs than Nissanka’s 1648.