India and Sri Lanka start the T20I series with the opening game in Colombo on Sunday night. India clinched the ODI series but Sri Lanka will be back after winning the final ODI by 3 wickets.
Match Timings: July 25, 8 PM IST
Match Preview
India and Sri Lanka will battle out again in Colombo for 3-match T20I series. It was an amazing ODI series and India won the series 2-1 which was India’s consecutive 9th series win against Sri Lanka. Hosts found the consolation victory in the final game of the series after beating India by 3 wickets. Sri Lanka ended a long 10-match losing streak at home against India. They will now look for T20 WC preparation with this series.
India made few changes to the squad and suffered issues in middle-order. They bundled out on 225 after losing the last 7 wickets on just 68 runs. Sri Lanka made this chase a cakewalk and Indian bowlers added some drama in the end but they chased it down with 3 wickets in hand. The new format might open the doors for Sri Lanka but the task wouldn’t be easy as Indian players have showcased their attacking approach in the ODI series. Almost all top-order batsmen played with a better strike rate.
India will play with its main strength. Shaw and Dhawan will open, followed by Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav. Pandya and Manish Pandey will take charge in middle-order. India will again try two spinners but Kuldeep might be replaced by Rahul Chahar. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be back who missed out last game and Deepak Chahar will also join the eleven. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will trust on their previous XI with a rare change. Akila’s performance was good in West Indies as well and in this spin surface, he would be important. Sri Lanka will look to mark attention in the shorter format.
Sri Lanka last played against West Indies and England in T20 format. They were beaten by both sides with winning just one game out of six. India, on the other hand, had good numbers in the shorter format. Men in Blue defeated Australia and England in the T20I series since the covid break. They also overcame strong New Zealand 5-0 in an away assignment. India lost only three games out of 13 matches since 2020 which shows their dominance and their current squad is also coming off the Indian T20 League.
Pitch Report
Colombo’s surface is a pure batting surface and we might expect lot of runs in third ODI. If India bats first, we might see 300 plus total. Chasing would be a best call but it would be tough if the score is around 280-300.
Possible XI
India
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav/Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar
Sri Lanka
Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (c), Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama
Key Players
India
Shikhar Dhawan
Top-scorer in first half of Indian T20 League 2021
Prithvi Shaw
Showed hard-hitting approach in ODIs, one of the top-scorers in Indian T20 League 2021
Sri Lanka
Wanindu Hasaranga
A handy allrounder, going through a dream phase of his career
Akila Dhananjaya
A quality spinner, 3-wickets haul in final ODI
