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• Sri Lanka Test an opportunity to find answers for Champions Trophy, says Sundar

  Washington Sundar believes India's third and final ODI against Sri Lanka presents an opportunity to prepare for next year's Champions Trophy. 

  India face the prospect of a first ODI series defeat against the Lions in 27 years after their 32-run defeat in their second Test at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

  Rohit Sharma hit India's highest total with the bat, scoring 64 runs from 44 balls, with the match belonging to Sri Lanka's Jeffery Vandersay, who took 6-33.

  "It is an opportunity for us to go out there and put our hands up and win those critical situations," Sundar said.

  "Obviously with the big tournaments coming up, we will be in similar situations and it will be important to find ways as to what we can do to win those critical situations especially in similar conditions against quality spin attack.

  "I think whatever we have done in this series so far, we will take that as a learning, obviously try and move ahead and win the game tomorrow in all aspects of the game."

  "We are quality players of spin, matter of finding a way."

  Sundar, did however, come to the defence of India's batters, having struggled against Sri Lanka's spinners in challenging conditions in their previous encounter. 

  "We are quality players of spin. We've always played in these kinds of wickets, even at home, in Test matches, and in different formats," Sundar said. 

  "Even domestic cricket, we play a lot of games in such wickets. And we know our players have done really well, especially in the middle order, batting against spin."

  "So it's just a matter of finding a way, their own individual self and trying to get the job done.

  "Everyone knows it's quite a challenging wicket. Obviously, the Indian team has always put its hands up, especially when the challenge arises.

  "And that's when we've been very good, both with bat and ball, and we've come out flying colours out of the challenging situations."

  The defeat last time out was the first in Gautam Gambhir's reign as the new India head coach, having breezed to a 3-0 series win in their T20I series in July. 

  Sundar has said the team have tried to implement the new tactics introduced by the 42-year-old, something he knows will take time to come to fruition. 

  "There has been a lot of input from him," Sundar started. "He is a high-quality player of spin.

  "We have always seen him putting up great performances, especially in such wickets against quality spin.

  "That is one of the reasons we came out here today to practice and try and find a way and try and do those small little changes tactically and be prepared and ready for tomorrow's game and be really on top of our game in all aspects."

• England confirm Crawley and Pennington will miss Sri Lanka series

  England's opening batter Zak Crawley will miss the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka later this month after sustaining a fractured finger. 

  Crawley suffered the injury during England's encounter with the West Indies at Edgbaston last week, which sealed a 3-0 series triumph over their opponents. 

  The 26-year-old is aiming to return in time for England's Test tour to Pakistan in October.

  Surrey's Dan Lawrence will open alongside Ben Duckett in Crawley's absence, as Essex middle-order batter Jordan Cox received his first call-up to the squad. 

  Ben Stokes deputised as Duckett's opening partner at Edgbaston, hitting a record-breaking 24-ball half-century, but Lawrence will take up the role against Sri Lanka.

  England will also be without seam bowler Dillon Pennington, who picked up a hamstring injury while playing for Birmingham Phoenix during The Hundred competition. 

  Nottinghamshire team-mate Olly Stone replaces Pennington, returning to the Test squad for the first time since June 2021 and will be looking to add to his three Test caps.

  Captained by Stokes, England will host Sri Lanka at Old Trafford for the first Test starting on August 21.

• Asalanka stars at the death as Sri Lanka draw with India

  Sri Lanka held India to a draw in a thrilling finale to the first ODI of their series on Friday.

  Charith Asalanka was the hero for Sri Lanka in Colombo, taking two wickets in the space of two balls to bowl India out for 230.

  Pathum Nissanka (56) and Dunith Wellalage (67) led the way for Sri Lanka with the bat, propelling them to 230-8 from their 50 overs, with the pair plundering 18 boundaries between them.

  India looked well set for the first 12 overs, until the dismissal of Shubman Gill (16) kick-started a mini-capitulation, with captain Rohit Sharma (58), Washington Sundar (five), Virat Kohli (24) and Shreyas Iyer (23) following in quick succession.

  KL Rahul and Axar Patel appeared to have steadied the ship, but Wanindu Hasaranga (3-58) and Asalanka (3-30) struck in the space of seven deliveries to drag Sri Lanka back into it.

  And the day ultimately belonged to Asalanka who, after being hit for four by Shivam Dube (25) in the 48th over, hit back with a pair of LBWs to leave the tourists stunned.

  Data Debrief: India's dominance ended

  India had won each of their last six ODIs against Sri Lanka, their joint-longest winning streak against them in the history of the format (along with a run between July 1998 and May 1999), but for the first time since a loss in Colombo in July 2021, they failed to get the job done.

  This match did see the two form teams in ODIs take each other on. India (27) and Sri Lanka (22) have won more 50-over games than any other teams since the start of 2023.