Rahane's form a worry as India aim another clean sweep vs SL

A horribly out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane will be aiming to get his mojo back as India, formidable even without regular skipper Virat Kohli, eye another 'Whitewash' against Sri Lanka in the three-match ODI series, starting on Sunday.

From the polluted 'Gas Chamber' of National Capital, the action has now shifted to the most scenic cricket stadium in the country in the backdrop of the pristine Dhauladhar Range.The primary objective for chief coach Ravi Shastri and stand-in captain Rohit Sharma will be to look at various combinations in both departments against an out-of-sorts team.With the match starting at 11:30 am in cooler confines and bouncy conditions, the toss could prove to be a crucial factor during the opening ODI.

Dinesh Karthik and Mahendra Singh Dhoni is likely to take the next two slots, before Kedar Jadhav comes at the number six.Karthik had scored a fifty in the two chances that he got in the West Indies series, while against New Zealand the wicket-keeper batsman hit scores of 37, 64 not out and 4 not out in the three games.Dhoni, on the other hand, had faced criticism when he struggled to get going in the second T20I against New Zealand which the hosts lost by 40 runs and the former skipper will look to silent his detractors.

Among others, it will be interesting to see if skipper Rohit decides to give rookie Siddarth Kaul a chance as a third pacer at the HPCA Stadium, which is expected to aid swing bowling.Sri Lanka will bank on young batsman Dhananjaya de Silva, who scored a fighting century in the third Test to force a draw at Delhi.

Teams: India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul.

Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera (capt), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Chaturanga de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dushmantha Chameera, Sachith Pathirana, Kusal Perera.

Match starts at 11:30 am.