India Vs Sri Lanka’s first T20 match in Pune at Sahara Stadium.
India looks the favourites to win the first match and the series against depleted Lankan tigers.
Sri Lanka will miss the services of their star batsmen and captain Angelo Mathews, Tilakratne Dilshan and their premiere fast bowler Lasik Malinga. Dinesh Chandimal is leading the side for todays game and rest of the series.
India will face brand new Sri Lankan side today. Dilhara Fernando is back as replacement of Malinga.
Tishra Peera , Dilhara Fernando and Karpugedra only experienced players in their line up. They will experienced players like Dilshan , Malinga and Matthews.
Sri Lanka will forget what has happened in New Zealand. They lost Test , ODI and T20 series against the Blackcaps.
Likely Sri Lankan squad for the first T20.
N Dickwella , Gunathilaka, Shanaka, Chandimal (captain & wk), Siriwardana, Kapugedra, Perea, Pransana, Ferando, S Eranga.
For India Kohli is rested after fantastic series against Australia down under. Indians will look to experiment with their lineups. They may shuffle their batting order. Yuvraj Singh may be promoted to bat up the order. Their bowling attack will also be tasted in these conditions.
Pawan Negi will be closely watched in today’s game. Yuvi and Raina will have roles to play with both bat and ball. There will a Selection headache for MS Dhoni because there are plenty of all rounder’s in the team.
India will look to extend their winning streak. They should aim to win series 3-0.
India’s likely squad for the first T20.
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ms Dhoni (c & wk) , Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Pawan Negi, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Nehra/ Harbhajan Singh.
Toss is always crucial. Captains must decide what to choose.
India have chased very well . They have won 4 game out of 6 but their chase master Kohli is rested. They have defended very poorly. They manage to win only one game out of six games this mite be because of their bowling in depth overs. Indian bowlers leak runs in Last 3 to 4 overs. But Jasprit Bumrah should be the answer to India’s depth bowling woes. He will be supported by experienced Nehra , Ashwin and Bhajji.
This match and the series will be played under one eye to ICC World T20 in March. This series is the preparation to world T20 in India from March.