5 players to watch out for in the India-Sri Lanka ODI series

Upul Tharanga

Upul Tharanga took over the captaincy of the Sri Lanka team in rather turbulent times. Angelo Mathews stepped down as the captain after a humiliating series defeat against Zimbabwe at home.

With a team in transition and lot of new faces being tried in the past year or so, Sri Lanka suffered three 0-5 series whitewashes in the period.

Looking ahead to the ICC World Cup, the selectors decided to strip Tharanga from the ODI captaincy and have named Thisara Perera as the captain of the ODI team. Despite all the negativity, Upul Tharanga the batsman has been very consistent in the past one year.

He has a lot of experience, having played 214 ODIs and he has used that to his benefit, getting runs in different conditions on a regular basis. His laid-back approach, solid technique and the ability to play seamers and spinners equally well make him an asset to have.

Sri Lanka need someone who can offer stability at the top of the innings and also someone who can control the middle overs, an area of their game which has cost them many matches of late. A solid start is wasted by an ineffective middle order.

With the burden of captaincy being lifted off his shoulder, it would be interesting to see how Upul Tharanga paces his innings and how Sri Lanka use his experience. One thing is for sure, he is a key member of this Sri Lankan team and for them to compete and look at troubling a dominant Indian team, Tharanga would have to bat well and probably convert his starts into big scores.