Rohit Sharma won the toss in the dead rubber in Thiruvananthapuram and elected to bat first, wanting to test the bowling attack in potentially dewy conditions. He went ahead and made the task all the more difficult by resting Hardik Pandya, leaving India only five bowlers including two fingerspinners in Axar Patel and Washington Sundar.
Rohit also made a decision that will be extremely popular among the fans, bringing in Suryakumar Yadav, who has been in red-hot form in T20Is. Umran Malik was the other bowler to be rested.
Sri Lanka made two changes themselves. Ashen Bandara and Jeffrey Vandersay came in for Dhananjaya de Silva and Dunith Wellalage. Pathum Nissanka and Dilshan Madushanka continued to miss out after sustaining injuries during the first match of the series in Guwahati.
The pitch looked to have cracks from afar, and both captains expected some turn later in the day. The turn, however, was, as always, expected to be neutralised by the dew later in the night.
India sealed the series 2-0 in Kolkata thanks to superb bowling from Kuldeep Yadav after which KL Rahul anchored a tricky chase.
India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Mohammed Siraj.
Sri Lanka: 1 Nuwanidu Fernando, 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 Charith Asalanka, 5 Ashen Bandara, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Jeffrey Vandersay, 9 Chamika Karunaratne, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Lahiru Kumara.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo