Toss Sri Lanka chose to bowl v Zimbabwe
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Nuwan Kulasekara returned to Sri Lanka’s ODI attack for the first time since January © Getty Images
Upul Tharanga, the 19th ODI captain of Sri Lanka, chose to bowl in his first match in charge, the tri-series opener against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club. The result meant the team winning the toss had sent the opposition in for the 17th time in the last 19 matches at the venue.
Conditions were overcast before the start of play, with a light drizzle in the air. Given that, the early-morning start, and a bit of dampness on the surface, Sri Lanka expected a bit of help for the new ball and picked three seamers. Nuwan Kulasekara returned to their line-up for the first time since the tour of New Zealand in January; left-armer Sachith Pathirana was the only spinner in their XI.
Zimbabwe left out their ex-captain Hamilton Masakadza, while Tinashe Panyangara made an expected return from injury to lead a pace attack that also included Donald Tiripano and the ODI debutant Carl Mumba.
Zimbabwe 1 Chamu Chibhabha, 2 Brian Chari, 3 Craig Ervine, 4 Sean Williams, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Peter Moor (wk), 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Graeme Cremer (c), 9 Donald Tiripano, 10 Carl Mumba, 11 Tinashe Panyangara
Sri Lanka 1 Dhananjaya de Silva, 2 Kusal Perera, 3 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Upul Tharanga (c), 6 Shehan Jayasuriya, 7 Asela Gunaratne, 8 Sachith Pathirana, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Nuwan Pradeep
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo