Nidahas Trophy: India win toss, opt to bowl first in final

Colombo: India won the toss and chose to field first in the final of the Nidahas Trophy tri-nation T20 series at the R Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday.

After the toss, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma described the wicket as dry and said teams have won chasing down here.

Meanwhile, he announced a change in the playing XI from the one fielded against Bangladesh in the semi-final of the series. Jaydev Unadkat has replaced Mohammed Siraj.

Bangladesh will play the same team which won them the semi-final against Sri Lanka.

After losing to Sri Lanka in the opener, India are favourites to lift the title as they have registered three consecutive wins here, including two against their final’s opponent.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, reached the final with a thrilling win over the hosts.

While Bangladesh have relied on their senior batsmen to make it to the finals, India have banked on youth in the absence of their key players.

Captain Sharma has hit form with the bat while Washington Sundar has been doing damages with the ball.

For the Men in Green, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah have shepherded successful chases against Sri Lanka.

The culminating match of the series will be the eighth T20 face-off between the two teams. The Men in Blue have emerged victorious in all the previous seven occasions. Also, India have won nine of their 11 games at the R Premadasa Stadium.

India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Siraj.

Bangladesh Playing XI: Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim(wk), Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Islam (ANI)