Colombo: India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first on Thursday in the second test against Sri Lanka, which is also the last match for home hero Kumar Sangakkara.

Desperate to level the three-match series at P Sara Oval, India made three changes to the team which imploded in their second innings at Galle to see the hosts take a 1-0 lead.

With Shikhar Dhawan missing the remainder of the series with a fractured hand, fellow opener Murali Vijay, who missed the Galle test after failing to recover from a hamstring injury, returned to the squad.

India also dropped paceman Varun Aaron and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, replacing them with Umesh Yadav and all-rounder Stuart Binny.

‘It looks like a pretty good wicket, pretty hard surface underneath. Whatever grass we saw two days back has suddenly disappeared,’ Kohli said at the toss explaining his decision.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said he would have preferred to bowl first anyway.

‘If there is anything for the bowlers, it would be in the first couple of sessions,’ he said.

‘So we would try to exploit that conditions in the first 15-16 overs and try and get a few wickets early won. All the test matches that we have played here, it has swung and seamed a little bit in the first session.

‘If you take a few early wickets you can push them back. Day two, day three probably the best batting days.’

Sri Lanka made one change to their squad, replacing the injured Nuwan Pradeep with Dushmantha Chameera.

Teams:

India: Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Stuart Binny, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara, Angelo Mathews (captain), Jehan Mubarak, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Tharindu Kaushal, Dushmantha Chameera.