Sri Lanka elect to field in India decider

Colombo: Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and sent India in to bat in the decisive final Test at the Sinhalese sports club in Colombo on Friday.

The series is tied 1-1 after Sri Lanka won the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs and India drew level with a 278-run win in the second match at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo on Monday.

The tourists were forced to make two changes, replacing the injured duo of opener Murali Vijay and wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha with Cheteshwar Pujara and 32-year-old debutant Naman Ojha.

Sri Lanka replaced the retired Kumar Sangakkara with another left-hander Upul Tharanga, and also included seamer Nuwan Pradeep and wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera.

The hosts left out Jehan Mubarak and Dushmantha Chameera from the side which lost the second Test.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Rangana Herath, Tharindu Kaushal, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Lokesh Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Naman Ojha, Stuart Binny, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma.