Sri Lanka opt to bowl against India in key Asia Cup tie

Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to field first against India as they look to seal a final spot in the Asia Cup Twenty20 tournament on Tuesday, reports AFP.

The island nation, who won their opening Super Four contest against Afghanistan, need one more win to all but move into the final on September 11 and come in unchanged in Dubai.

"We'll bowl first because of the record here. All the last three games have been chased down here," said Shanaka.

"The approach has been outstanding by our batters and we hope to continue the same."

India desperately need to a win to stay in the hunt for the final after they lost to Pakistan in their opening match of the Super Four.

A loss to Sri Lanka would leave them at the mercy of other teams and their results.

They have made one change with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin coming in for Ravi Bishnoi.

"We would have bowled first as well. The pitch doesn't change much and it only gets better to bat on," India skipper Rohit Sharma said.

"This gives us an opportunity to come out and play freely. This is how the World Cup would be played as well, and we have to make sure that we don't lose too many games."

The tournament acts as a tune-up to the T20 World Cup in October-November in Australia.

Teams

India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh

Sri Lanka: Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka