Left-hander Vinod Kambli, once spoken of highly in the same tones as Sachin Tendulkar till his run bank dried up, and he became the bad boy of Indian cricket, is certain to replace Rahul Dravid. Kambli, a schoolmate of Tendulkar has also to justify his inclusion in the team.
The amount of grass on the pitch will decide the bowling combination. India are planning to go with three fast bowlers Venkatesh Prasad, Abey Kuruvila and Debasis Mohanty if the pitch suits the fast men. Otherwise, they will include left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni (at the expense of Prasad) to partner off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan with leg-spinner Anil Kumble standing down.
The Indians have been psychologically and morally beaten by the world one-day champions four times out of four on this tour, that they have run out of ideas on how to stop the Sri Lankan juggernaut from completing a clean sweep in the one-day series. Sri Lanka lead the series 2-0.
Indian batsmen will have some respite because both left-arm fast bowlers, Chaminda Vaas and Sajeeva de Silva are not playing today. Vaas is nursing a swollen ankle, while De Silva is being rested to give Dulip Liyanage a chance to prove his capabilities. Vaas' place goes to Ravindra Pushpakumara, who will need to bowl a tight line and length as he has a tendency to stray.
Sri Lanka have also brought in all-rounder Ruwan Kalpage at the expense of Kumara Dharmasena, thus affecting three changes from the side that won the second one-dayer on Wednesday by seven wickets.
From the manner in which Sri Lanka's top order have been faring against India's disjointed bowling attacks, their batsmen have not been required to go beyond number four to provide them with match-winning totals.
The teams: SRI LANKA (from): Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atpattu, Roshan Mahanama, Aravinda de Silva, Lanka de Silva, Ruwan Kalpage, Upul Chandana, Dulip Liyanage, Mutiah Muralitharan, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Kumara Dharmasena, Hashan Tillekeratne, Mahela Jayawardena.
INDIA (from): Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Saurav Ganguly, Robin Singh, Mohammad Azharuddin, Vinod Kambli, Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia, Rajesh Chauhan, Abey Kuruvila, Debasis Mohanty, Venkatesh Prasad, Nilesh Kulkarni, Anil Kumble.
UMPIRES: K.T. Francis and P. Manuel.