India vs Sri Lanka: India's Predicted Playing XI for 1st T20I

After a spectacular whitewash against the West Indies recently, India would be hosting Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series starting February 24. The Men In Blue would be eyeing a third straight clean sweep in the upcoming series. The first game will be hosted at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium on February 24. The Lankans will be coming on the back of a 1-4 series loss in Australia.

Meanwhile, India will be without their key players Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant who have been rested for this T20I series but, that means a few players might get an opportunity to feature in the team. Without further a do, here’s a look at the-

Predicted playing XI of India side for 1st T20I against Sri Lanka

Openers: Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan

It seems that the promising Ruturaj Gaikwad will need to wait for some more time to get a game as skipper Rohit Sharma and youngster Ishan Kishan would continue to open the innings. Ishan would be opening instead of injured white-ball vice-captain KL Rahul.

While Rohit scored 66 runs from three T20I matches against the West Indies, the wicketkeeper-batter managed 71 runs from as many games at a strike rate of 85.54. The southpaw would also be donning the keeper’s gloves.

Middle Order: Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav

Both Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav would be expected to take extra care of the middle-order responsibilities in the upcoming Sri Lanka T20Is with Kohli and Pant being unavailable. In the only game that he got to play against the Windies, Shreyas scored 25 runs off 16 balls in the final game.

Yadav on the other hand made his bat do the talking exceptionally well in the middle-order with 107 runs to his name including a half-century which happened to be a match-winning 65 in the third T20I.

All Rounders: Venketesh Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja

Venkatesh Iyer is on a roll and was outstanding in the West Indies T20I series. The Madhya Pradesh cricketer was one of the most consistent performers on the 22 yards having amassed 92 runs in all three appearances at a strike rate of 184. He remained unbeaten in the first and third match. Iyer also chipped in with two scalps.

Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja returns after being out of action for a while due to a right forearm injury that he had suffered in the first Test against New Zealand at Kanpur in November. The southpaw would be expected to score at a brisk rate at number seven and also contribute with his left-arm spin.

Bowlers: Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Ravi Bishnoi

Harshal Patel made his presence felt with his medium-pace in the just-concluded series and even though he had gone wicketless in the second game, the promising bowler made up for it with a three-wicket haul in the final match at an economy of 5.5. He finished with five wickets.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar had bowled a match-winning penultimate over in the second T20I where he conceded just four runs and picked up the big wicket of the hard-hitting Nicholas Pooran to finish with figures of 1/29 at an economy of 7.3. The pacer took two wickets from as many matches. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was rested for the home limited-overs series against West Indies.

Wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up two wickets from two outings in the previous series. He was rested for the third game which meant that Venkatesh Iyer was the sixth-choice bowler.

Ravi Bishnoi made his T20I debut for India in style. The leggie got to feature in all three games and finished with three wickets going wicketless in the final game. In the series opener, the emerging spinner had bowling figures of 2/17 at an economy of 4.3.