India eye a winning start to 2023 as Sri Lanka aim to stun hosts

The Men in Blue are all set to take the yard again after a brief hiatus as a stern Lankan challenge awaits a new-look Team India with the three-match T20I series kickstarting from tomorrow. With quite a handful of young players hoping to make a mark, Wankhede will play host to the battle between the two Asian neighbours.

Talking about T20Is, this will be India’s second series after the T20 World Cup and the Men in Blue will like to see a few of their new faces coming to the fore as a new chapter is being forged. With names like Rahul Tripathi and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the fold, it won’t be surprising if India choose to shake up things a bit for the opening slot while Ishan Kishan will obviously be hogging the limelight.

If the batting department of Team India is a burning cauldron of raw talent, then a new look bowling unit spearheaded by Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel will hope to witness decent figures from Mukesh Kumar and Shivam Mavi, two of India’s most sizzling domestic talents of late.

Sri Lanka will be desperate to make a statement considering their knowledge of the sub-continent pitches and their ability to play turn. Despite being at the receiving end of some serious heat in recent times, with Wanindu Hasaranga being the deputy to Dasun Shanaka, the Indians may have a boatload of surprises heading their way.

This will also be a litmus Test for Hardik Pandya as the T20I skipper for India as Rohit Sharma recovers from his injury. With all said and done, this is going to be a fine challenge of two neighbouring countries who will be willing to put everything on the line.

Venue Watch:

The records at Wankhede are massively skewed in favour of the teams chasing as out of the 7 T20Is played, only 2 of them have been won batting first while the 5 others have been secured chasing. The average first innings score at Wankhede is a staggering 194 while the average score batting second is 182. Going by the history of Wankhede, it has always been a pleasant host to the batters and come Tuesday, it is least likely to be any different.

Stats:

Rohit Sharma is the highest run-scorer in the Indo-Sri Lankan T20I rivalry with a staggering 411 runs. 

Rohit Sharma is the solitary centurion in the shortest format of the game as we talk about India vs Sri Lanka feuds.

Yuzvendra Chahal will be hoping to add to his tally given the fact that he is already the highest wicket-taker in T20Is in the India vs Sri Lanka affair.

Ravichandran Ashwin’s best figures of 4-1-8-4 still remains the most sizzling bowling display against Sri Lanka by an Indian in T20Is.

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 26

India: 17

Sri Lanka: 8

Match Details:

India vs Sri Lanka

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

3rd January 2023

7:00 PM IST

Squads:

India:

Hardik Pandya (cap), Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Ishan Kishan (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar

Sri Lanka:

Dasun Shanaka (cap), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis , Bhanuka Rajapaksa – Only for T20Is, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ashen Bandara, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay , Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Kasun Rajitha, Nuwanidu Fernando, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Lahiru Kumara, Nuwan Thushara