Opportunity for youngsters to impress as India lock horns with Sri Lanka in T20Is

With West Indies done and dusted, India will now set its sight upon their touring neighbours. However, both the teams will be missing out on quite a few important names as injuries and COVID continue to play spoilsport.

Taking the series as the second preparatory chapter of the World Cup preparations, India will be hopeful of gauging their team strength without the likes of three of their finest batters at the moment, Virat, Surya, and Rishabh Pant.

This series will play another baptism of fire for an ascending Venkatesh Iyer who was instrumental in shaping India’s middle-order exploits. With Suryakumar and Kohli ruled out, this will be a litmus test for Shreyas Iyer who has shown glimpses of brilliance but failed to flip it into a full-blown dazzle.

With Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar, both rested for the contest, India will have to rely a lot on the shoulders of Venky to deliver the role of a fifth bowler. Ravi Bishnoi will be expected to carry on with his decent form as he played a fine role against the Caribbean biffers.

The inclusion of Sanju Samson has sparked a few questions but with quite a few important names not being a part of the squad, the wicket-keeping batter would want to exploit this opportunity to make it big.

India’s recent woes however have been their middle-order and a slow start in the powerplay. Rohit Sharma will try and press his foot on the gas from the very beginning, trying to address this serious concern. Ruturaj Gaikwad will have to start making use of his opportunities because his outings in the international arcade are still to produce something significant.

Team news:

India will be without their former captain, Virat Kohli while wicket-keeping batter, Rishabh Pant will also not be a part of the series.

Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar were also ruled out after copping injuries in the final T20 against West Indies.

Sri Lanka, will have Wanindu Hasaranga back having completed the isolation period after testing positive for COVID in Australia.

Match details:

India vs Sri Lanka (T20I series, 1st T20I) 

Venue: Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow

Date: February 24th, 2022 

Time: 7:00 PM IST

Head-to-head:

Matches: 22

India: 14

Sri Lanka: 7

Stats:

The top five scorers in the Indian Sri Lanka rivalry in the shortest format of the game are from India as the names feature Shikhar Dhawan at the top followed by Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Suresh Raina.

Rohit Sharma is the only centurion in this Indo-Lankan feud with a blistering 118 as his best.

Rohit Sharma is the leading run-scorer in a single series whenever these two teams have met for T20s. He has managed to rack up 162 runs against Sri Lanka in the 2017/18 series.

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul hold the record of the highest partnership between India and Sri Lanka in the T20s as the duo forged a stand of 165 runs for the opening pair.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan.

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kamil Mishara, Janith Liyanage, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Binura Fernando, Shiran Fernando, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Ashian Daniel – Subject to Ministerial approval