Daily Times

COLOMBO: India going into the Nidahas T20I tri-series without many of their first-choice players has somewhat levelled the playing field. Captain Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav have all been rested. Sri Lanka will also miss some of their key players: Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne and fast bowler Shehan Madushanka, who bagged a hat-trick on ODI debut in Bangladesh, are unavailable through injury. Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep return to bolster the pace attack, but Sri Lanka will have to be wary of India’s strong bench strength. Allrounders Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar and Washington Sundar, fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant have only played five T20Is among them, but are used to playing under pressure in the IPL. Rohit Sharma, the stand-in captain, meanwhile will look to hit form after an underwhelming tour of South Africa. The return of Suresh Raina adds meat to the middle order, which also includes Manish Pandey.

Sri Lanka will aim to build on the gains made in the limited-overs series in Bangladesh. Kusal Mendis has bedded in at the top while Thisara Perera and Dasun Shanaka have boosted the middle order. Akila Dananjaya, who can bowl offbreaks as well as legbreaks, and Isuru Udana are capable of supporting Lakmal and Thisara with the ball.

In the spotlight: After making back-to-back fifties in Bangladesh, Kusal Mendis repeated the feat at home in the domestic T20 tournament for Colombo Cricket Club. Can he continue his excellent form in the Nidahas Trophy? Sri Lanka might have nightmares of Rohit Sharma, who slammed 118 off 43 balls in the last bilateral T20 series between the two sides in December. In all, Rohit has hit 278 runs in 11 innings against Sri Lanka at a strike-rate of 146.31.

Team news: Kusal Perera, Suranga Lakmal and Dushmantha Chameera might return to the XI. Having secured a thumping series win in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka might not tinker too much with their team. Dinesh Karthik will tussle with Pant for the wicketkeeper’s spot. Yuzvendra Chahal and Jaydev Unadkat are likely to return to the XI despite being left out for the third T20I in Cape Town. Sundar will compete with Hooda for the allrounder’s spot, while KL Rahul, who hasn’t played a T20I since December 2017, might get a game in the absence of key players.

Squads:

Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kusal Mendis, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Kusal Perera, 4 Upul Tharanga, 5 Dasun Shanaka, 6 Thisara Perera, 7 Dinesh Chandimal (capt & wk), 8 Akila Dananjaya, 9 Amila Aponso, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Dushmantha Chameera

India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 KL Rahul, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Rishabh Pant/Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Washington Sundar/Deepak Hooda, 8 Yuzvendra Chahal, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Axar Patel, 11 Jaydev Unadkat.

Published in Daily Times, March 6^th 2018.