India vs. Sri Lanka 2nd ODI: Date, Live Stream, TV Info, Preview

The second ODI of this hastily arranged series between India and Sri Lanka is due to take place at Ahmedabad, and the visitors will be eager to atone for their 169-run humiliation in Cuttack.

Let's take a look at how the sides are shaping up ahead of this 50-over face off.

Venue: Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad, India

Date: Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014

Start time: 1:30 p.m. local time, 8 a.m. GMT

Weather: According to bbc.co.uk, a scorcher is in prospect.

Live stream/TV Info: Sky Sports 2 (UK), Fox Sports (Australia)

Preview

The question many Indian fans are asking: Is this Virat Kohli's dress rehearsal to take over the reins from MS Dhoni? 

If so, it couldn't have started much better with the Indians banishing the disappointment of the West Indies' tour being cut short by smashing the Sri Lankans to smithereens in Cuttack.

Before the match, the absence of Dhoni behind the stumps seemed strange, but openers Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane each scored centuries, and the rest is history.

Ishant Sharma picked up four easy wickets as the rusty Sri Lankans collapsed meekly to lose by one of their biggest-ever margins.

India's biggest challenge is to maintain the consistency against an opposition they've faced endless times over the last few years with an epic tour to Australia just around the corner.

Of course Sri Lanka will be looking to peak in time for the World Cup too, but, to be fair, the visit from England probably represents a more meaningful challenge than this stopgap series.

That said, it only takes the likes of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who were probably chilling out and relaxing at home just over a week ago, to find their groove to help them be competitive again. 

Also, in the absence of Rangana Herath, the rest of the bowling attack needs to step up as a whole and put much more pressure on the Indian batsmen.

The sides are far from strangers have contested 144 ODIs since 1979. India hold the upper hand overall, winning 79 compared to the Sri Lankans' 54, although 11 games produced no results and one was a tie.

Squads

India (from): Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, Stuart Binny, Akshar Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra

Sri Lanka (from): Angelo Mathews (c), Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ashan Priyanjan, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Lahiru Gamage, Chaturanga de Silva, Seekkuge Prasanna, Suraj Randiv

Players to Watch

India

In the absence of the under-pressure MS Dhoni, Kohli’s rise to the captaincy could be seen as a sign of things to come. A run of wins here would certainly help as would a deluge of runs after a miserable summer in England. The swashbuckling batsman is in form, though, as evidenced by his ton against the West Indies in Dharamsala.

Sri Lanka

As per usual with Sri Lanka, their rise or fall depends greatly on their legendary No. 3 and No. 4. Let's go with Sangakkara here, a player for whom occasion, form or pitch normally loses out to concentrations and application. The gifted left-hander has scored nearly 13,000 ODI runs with 19 centuries.

Prediction

Angelo Matthews' men will surely be better this time out, but their motivation for this series is questionable. Given that India have momentum and are gearing up toward their tour of Australia, they get the nod to go 2-0 up.