Sri Lanka won the toss and they have opted to bowl first against India in the second T20I at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday (July 28). Meanwhile, four Indian players - Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Chetan Sakariya, and Nitish Rana are making their T20I debuts.
Krunal Pandya tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and eight Indian players -- Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Ishan Kishan, and K Gowtham were identified as close contacts and hence they would not be playing the second and third T20Is.
India captain Shikhar Dhawan said: "We would have batted first, so I'm happy with it. There are four debutants. Lots of changes due to obvious reasons. We're all looking forward to this. We're street-fighters and ready to face the challenges."
"Our main players aren't here, but that gives the chance to the younger players. They have created great energy for the last 45 days, and I'm glad they have got their chances. These things can happen in the current scenario, that's why we brought a large squad," he added.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked four while Deepak Chahar scalped two wickets as India defeated Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the first T20I on Sunday. As a result, the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series and will look to seal the series by winning today's game.
Teams:
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka(w), Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dasun Shanaka(c), Ramesh Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera
India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan(c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(w), Nitish Rana, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya, Varun Chakravarthy
