Colombo: After a successful and testing tour of South Africa, a new-look team India - led by Rohit Sharma - is all set to face Sri Lanka in the opening Twenty20 international of the tri-nation series at the R Premadasa Stadium here on Tuesday.
The tri-nation Nidahas Trophy will be contested between Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh.
The decision of the BCCI to rest some of the senior players - including regular captain Virat Kohli and the veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav and allrounder Hardik Pandya - gave the chance to some promising youngsters to make their mark.
Washington Sundar, Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda and Mohammad Siraj were included in the squad and will get a fair chance to prove their mettle.
That's what the three teams are playing for - The Nidahas Trophy which is all set to begin from the 6th of March 2018 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/MO8gGuTdWz
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 5, 2018
On the other hand, injuries have taken front seat for the hosts before the start of the series as Asela Gunaratne, Shehan Madushanka and Angelo Mathews were ruled out. It all depends on senior pros Dinesh Chandimal, Upul Tharanga, Thisara Perera and Suranga Lakmal to get the team going.
The return of Kusal Perera, who missed Bangladesh T20Is due to injury, will add some strength to the home team's depleted squad.
India Squad
Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan (vc), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj, Rishabh Pant (wk)
