Persistent drizzle delayed the toss in the fifth ODI between India vs Sri Lanka in Colombo as Virat Kohli’s side aim for a 5-0 whitewash against the hosts

Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga won the toss and elected to bat against India in the fifth and final One-day International at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.

Mild drizzle in the afternoon delayed the toss by 40 minutes, although the ground looked quite dry once the covers were taken off. Despite the delay, it will be a full game.

Virat Kohli’s team, 4-0 up in the series, aims to complete a second sweep – India won the Test series 3-0 – in this tour. The visitors rang in four changes from the last game, which India won by 168 runs.

India included Ajinkya Rahane for the first time in the series with the ODI opener replacing Shikhar Dhawan in the playing eleven. Dhawan has been forced to return home as his mother is unwell.

The others to come in are Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzhvendra Chahal. KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel will also sit out.

Victory for India would mean an unprecedented third ODI series sweep as skipper for Virat Kohli. The drizzle stopped around the scheduled toss time of 2 pm though the sky remained overcast.

For Sri Lanka, Upul Tharanga returned after a two-match ban due to the team’s slow over rate. He replaced young batsman Kusal Mendis, who the batting coach has said is suffering from mental fatigue.

Sri Lanka are hoping for an improved performance after failing to touch 250 in the first four matches.

According to rules for this series, the cut-off time for a 20-over game is 9.55 pm. And there is also a reverse day. If a team has completed its innings, play will continue the next day. If the first innings is not completed, then a fresh game will be played.

India XI: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzhvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.

Sri Lanka XI: Upul Tharanga (capt), Niroshan Dickwella, Dilshan Munaweera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Milinda Siriwardana, Akila Dananjaya, Wanindu Hasaranga, Vishwa Fernando, Malinda Pushpakumara, Lasith Malinga.