Who will win SL vs Ind 1st Test?
India are set to begin their tour of Sri Lanka with a three-match test series. The first of these tests is scheduled to be played between 26th and 30th July, 2017 at the Galle International Stadium. Live telecast of the match will begin at 10 AM local time each day.
SL vs Ind 1st Test: Where to watch/Live streaming
TV channels: Star Sports, Ten Sports, Fox Sports
Live streaming: Bet365, Hotstar, Foxtel
Toss Prediction
There seems to be a toss bias at this ground. Since the last four test matches at the Galle International Stadium have been won by the side batting first, the team that wins the toss will probably look to put runs on the board first up. Sri Lanka have won 10 of their last 11 tests here in which they have batted first. So it might be worth wagering on the hosts if they bat first in this match.
Read on for team previews, latest betting odds, betting tips and match prediction for SL vs Ind 1st Test...
Sri Lanka Team News & Playing 11
Team News
Dinesh Chandimal has been ruled out of the first test after having contracted pneumonia and veteran spinner Rangana Herath will be leading the Sri Lankan team in his absence. Nuwan Pradeep has recovered from his hamstring injury and is expected to play.
Key Players
Former Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews has six fifties at the Galle. He is averaging close to 50 here and he will be the key batsman for the team in this match. Kusal Mendis who has one hundred and one fifty from two tests here will be another batsman to watch out for. Stand-in skipper Rangana Herath has outstanding figures at this ground with 9 five-fers and 3 ten-wicket hauls. The left-arm spinner could be a big thorn in India's flesh.
Recent Form
Sri Lanka have been quite sloppy in recent times in the longest version of the game, having lost four of their previous six matches. After a 0-3 whitewash in the away series against South Africa, they struggled at home to draw the two-match series against Bangladesh before recording a four-wicket win in the one-off test against Zimbabwe.
Sri Lanka Predicted Playing 11
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FDM Karunaratne, WU Tharanga, BKG Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, AD Mathews, N Dickwella (wk), MDK Perera, DAS Gunaratne, HMRKB Herath (c), RAS Lakmal, CBRLS Kumara/Nuwan Pradeep
India Team News & Playing 11
Team News
KL Rahul and Murali Vijay will miss the first test due to high fever and wrist injury respectively. The opening pair is likely to be replaced by Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan.
Key Players
Virat Kohli is the leading run-scorer in tests from this Indian squad and he could give the Sri Lankan bowlers a few headaches if not dismissed early on. Cheteshwar Pujara who also has an excellent record in this format is expected to score big in this match. Ravichandran Ashwin will be the team's biggest hope with the ball. The offie is one of India's leading test wicket-takers and he took a ten-wicket haul at this ground on the 2015 tour.
Recent Form
India have been on a roll in test cricket of late. They will be coming on the back of a terrific home season with 10 wins, 2 draws and just the one loss (against Australia) out of the 13 matches. Prior to this, they won a four-match series 2-0 in the West Indies.
India Predicted Playing 11
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Shikhar Dhawan, Abhinav Mukund, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami
Team Form in Last Five Matches (most recent first)
Sri Lanka: W L W L L
India: W D W L W
Sri Lanka vs India Head to Head
Sri Lanka and India have played 38 test matches against each other in the past of which 7 have been won by the former and 16 by the latter - a win percentage of around 42. The remaining 15 matches have all resulted in draws. India won the most recent encounter by 117 runs at Colombo during the 2015 tour.
Sri Lanka vs India 1st Test Betting Odds
India are coming on the back of successive test series victories over the West Indies (2-0), New Zealand (3-0), England (4-0), Bangladesh (solitary test) and Australia (2-1). The tourists will carry lots of momentum into this series and they begin as overwhelming favorites to win the first test at 1.74 with 1xbet and 1.66 with Bet365. Sri Lanka had a tough time at home preventing a series defeat against Bangladesh and they found it hard to overcome even Zimbabwe's resistance. No wonder the hosts are way up at 6.8 with Betfair and 6.5 with Bet365. A draw is priced at 3.55 and 3.25 respectively.
Sri Lanka vs India 1st Test Prediction
Sri Lanka will be without their star batsman and newly-appointed skipper Dinesh Chandimal for this game and this will take plenty of steam away from their batting. Though India too have been hit by injuries to Murali Vijay and KL Rahul, they have established players in Shikhar Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund to compensate for the loss. The visitors will also be high on confidence as they have won five and drawn one match out of the past eight tests they have played against Sri Lanka and so we predict them to start this series off with a win. A draw seems to be an unlikely outcome as there has been only one drawn test at the Galle since 2011.
Final Verdict: Back India to beat Sri Lanka in the first test at 1.74 with 1xbet and 1.66 with Bet365.
Jul 26, 2017
10:00 IST / 4:30 GMT
Galle Cricket Stadium - Colombo, Sri Lanka
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