With the number of claimants increasing heading into T20 World Cup, there will be no let-up in India's willingness to experiment or their intensity in the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka, beginning in Lucknow on Thursday (February 24). Coming off a 3-0 whitewash of the West Indies, the in-form Indians will look to do an encore against the visiting Sri Lankans, and the Rohit Sharma-led squad has a realistic chance of achieving that.
But the endeavour to complete another clean sweep will not mean a climb-down from their keenness to give enough game time to as many players as possible in the lead-up to the World Cup, which will be held in Australia in October-November.
The absence of the team's established players, such as Virat Kohli and Rishbah Pant as well as KL Rahul, in the upcoming three T20 Internationals will definitely translate into more opportunities for the likes of Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson. Kohli not there means Shreyas Iyer will get a chance to settle down, play more overs, score some useful runs and stake a claim for one of the middle-order slots, though the former India captain will come back to claim his number three spot heading into the World Cup.
Now that Suryakumar Yadav has been ruled out of the series alongside Deepak Chahar due to injuries, Venkatesh will assume added responsibility when it comes to batting in the back 10.
India vs Sri Lanka 1st T20I Match Details
Venue: Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
Date & Time: February 24th, 7pm IST onwards
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar website and app
India vs Sri Lanka 1st T20I Dream11 Team
Captain: Pathum Nissanka
Vice Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad
Wicketkeeper: Dinesh Chandimal
Batters: Rohit Sharma, Danushka Gunathilaka, Charith Asalanka
All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka
Bowlers: Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Dushmantha Chameera
IND vs SL 1st T20I Probable Playing XIs
India: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda / Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshal Patel, Bhuveshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dasun Shanaka (c), Chamika Karunaratne, Dusmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lahiru Kumara
