After a 3-0 whitewash of the West Indies last week in the shortest format of the game in Kolkata, India continued their dominance in the shortest format of the game against visiting Sri Lankans winning the series with a game to spare.
India defeated Sri Lanka by 62 runs and seven wickets in the first and second T20s respectively. The third and final T20 game of the series will be played on Sunday in Dharamsala.
India captain Rohit Sharma has earlier admitted that they are in an experiment mode before the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year and the Sri Lanka series provided the Men in Blue with the perfect platform for the players in the lead up to the mega event in October-November.
Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant weren't a part of this series. Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar were ruled out at the last moment due to injuries. Ruturaj Gaikwad was also ruled out midway into the series.
Opener Ishan Kishan took a blow on the head during the second T20 against Sri Lanka and is likely to sit out on Sunday.
Despite all these, India didn't look any short of personnel as the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja stepped up to win the series for India. Sanju Samson, who is making his India appearance after a long gap, also impressed with a 25-ball 39 on Saturday.
One of the positives among many for India in the West Indies series has been Venkatesh Iyer’s ability to finish off matches. While he took two wickets in the first T20, the left-hander didn't get to bat or bowl in the second game. With Kishan possibly sitting out, chances are there Venkatesh might open the innings with Rohit.
Spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who impressed in his maiden T20I series against West Indies, didn't play against Sri Lanka. With Sunday's match being nothing but a dead rubber, the team management might give a game to Bishnoi.
For Sri Lanka, they looked good with the bat but Dasun Shanaka's men completely failed to make an impact against an experimenting Indian batting line-up. Sri Lanka suffered a big blow when star leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga was ruled out of the series after failing to recover from his COVID-19 infection.
Head-To-Head
Both teams have met 24 times with India enjoying a 16-7 record against the Islanders. Only one game ended in no result.
Which channels will live telecast India vs Sri Lanka T20 series?
The India vs Sri Lanka T20 series will be seen live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada. The matches start at 7 PM IST.
Where to catch live streaming of India vs Sri Lanka T20 series?
Disney+ Hotstar will live stream all the three T20s between India and Sri Lanka. The matches start at 7 PM IST.
India’s T20 Fixtures Vs Sri Lanka
1st T20 – Lucknow On February 24 - India won by 62 runs
2nd T20 – Dharamshala On February 26 - India won by 7 wickets
3rd T20 – Dharamshala On February 27 - Awaiting
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mayank Agarwal, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Ravi Bishnoi
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Charith Asalanka, Kamil Mishara, Dinesh Chandimal(w), Dasun Shanaka(c), Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama, Binura Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Jeffrey Vandersay, Maheesh Theekshana, Ashian Daniel, Janith Liyanage
