A bunch of recent faces shall be determined for a good T20 World Cup audition when India’s different-looking but formidable white-ball squad face an under-fire Sri Lanka within the six-match restricted overs contest, starting with the primary ODI right here on Sunday.
Winning any worldwide collection shall be paramount however one can count on a couple of combos being tried out throughout a collection which obtained delayed by 5 days resulting from COVID-19 scare within the Sri Lankan camp. The collection includes three ODIs and as many T20s.
Dasun Shanaka is their tenth captain in 4 years and barring an aesthetic batsman like Dhananjaya de Silva and a gentle pacer in Dishmantha Chameera, this group lacks high quality to problem the may of Indian group led by Shikhar Dhawan.
The suspension of Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella resulting from bio-bubble breach in UK together with damage to former skipper Kusal Perera places Sri Lanka in a decent spot. If they’ll handle to win one recreation, that shall be an achievement in itself after a disastrous tour of England.
Expect Prithvi Shaw, Vijay Hazare Trophy’s high scorer to open alongside Dhawan, whereas seniors Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are anticipated to search out automated slots within the enjoying XI.
However there are a number of contender for different slots.
Will or not it’s Devdutt Padikkal or Ruturaj Gaikwad for No 3 slot? Will Suryakumar Yadav’s 360 diploma hitting capacity be used or Manish Pandey get a last likelihood to indicate some consistency?
Will Krishnappa Gowtham’s off-spin and large hits be most well-liked over Krunal Pandya’s left-arm darts together with cheeky batting abilities? How is Rahul Chahar positioned in opposition to Yuzvendra Chahal, who hasn’t been in better of types of late?
And who will don the massive gloves? Is it Rahul Dravid’s protege Sanju Samson or the mercurial Mumbai Indians man Ishan Kishan, who can actually pack a punch?
These are questions that must be answered by the group administration throughout the subsequent 11 days in Colombo.
India’s bench energy has been a matter of envy for all high cricketing nations and has allowed two nationwide groups to compete in numerous components of the globe in COVID instances.
While Virat Kohli’s males are eager to set their dismal Test document in England straight, the group led by Dhawan and coached by Dravid — the person liable for creating the pool, won’t ever settle for that it is a “second string” outfit taking over islanders, who’re going by means of their lowest ebb.
A group that has Dhawan and Shaw on the high together with likes of Pandey, Suryakumar, Pandya brothers — Hardik and Krunal, seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar together with spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav might be something however pushovers.
Some of those gamers are T20 regulars and whereas the 50 over format is of lesser significance going into the worldwide occasion in subsequent three months, each Dravid and Dhawan know the significance of recreation time.
While there are six uncapped gamers on this Indian line-up, Dravid had lately made it clear that it is going to be tough to offer recreation time to all of the accessible payers.
It is anticipated that each Dravid and Dhawan could be consulting with Ravi Shastri and Kohli on what they’d be on the lookout for from the assortment of gamers accessible with them.
One factor is crystal clear. There aren’t many slots accessible within the Indian group for the T20 World Cup and it might want some out of the world present from the rookies in an effort to discover a slot within the UAE sure group.
Among the newcomers, Varun Chakravarthy, who most likely shall be completely used within the shortest format, has a great likelihood of constructing the World T20 reduce and Chetan Sakariya’s left-arm seam bowling is an choice they want to take a look at.
Chahal and Kuldeep, the pair who might do no improper until 2019 World Cup, are each on borrowed time proper now and it couldn’t have been a greater time to face a struggling Sri Lanka.
However, Dhawan himself remains to be not assured of a ticket to UAE extravaganza with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul being contenders to open the innings.
Dhawan is somebody, who can solely bat on the high and the skipper himself want to reassert his supremacy in each codecs.
Ditto for Buvneshwar, who want to see himself in that T20 assault together with Jasprit Bumrah.
SQUADS
India: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini.
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Dhananjaya De Silva (Vice Captain), Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ashen Bandara, Minod Bhanuka, Lahiru Udara, Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan, Akila Dhananjaya, Shiran Fernando, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Ishan Jayaratne, Praveen Jayawickrema, Asitha Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Isuru Udana.
