By IANS,
Colombo : The Indians were batting first in the opening one-day international (ODI) cricket match with Sri Lanka here Monday. India’s ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat, though hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag was ruled out due to an injury.
Sehwag had hurt his ankle during training on Sunday, but the Indians hadn’t ruled the batsman out. The batsman was ruled out after his injury was reassessed Monday morning.
Virat Kohli, the 19-year-old who had captained India in its triumphant under-19 World Cup campaign last year was handed his ODI debut.
Sehwag was the only Indian batsman who was successful during the Test series that preceded the ODIs. The batsman topped the batting averages from both sides after ending the series with 344 runs in six innings with a best of 201 not out.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, retained the side that won the Asia Cup final against India in Pakistan a month ago.
Teams:
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedara, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Thilina Tushara Mirando and Nuwan Kulasekara.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha.
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WI) and Asoka de Silva (SL)
Third Umpire: Gamini Silva (SL)
Standby Umpire: Sena Nandaweera (SL)
Match Referee: Chris Broad (Eng)