Indore: An upbeat Indian team would look to wrap up the series when they take on Sri Lanka in the second T20I of the three-match series in Indore on Friday.
All throughout this tour, there have been patches of Sri Lanka’s good performance where they almost left the hosts stunned and shocked. But the bottom line has always been that India would somehow find a way to win at the end. Although the visitors put up a brave show in the Test and ODI series despite losing the both of them, they were completely blown away by India in the first T20I in Cuttack where they ended up losing by a massive margin of 93 runs.
As a matter of fact, skipper Thisara Perera running out of options seemed quite helpless at the post-match press conference where he said, “We don’t have any players apart from these. We have to choose from this squad of fifteen.”
But the situation on the other side of the camp is pretty good. Rohit Sharma, captaining the side in Virat Kohli’s absence did a fine job in Cuttack by promoting MS Dhoni up the order at number four and the move paid dividends. Dhoni scored a crucial 39* and sent the last ball flying into the stands to help India post 180 runs on the board.
KL Rahul, who scored a timely 61 on his comeback in the last game too supported this move as he said, “I think MS (Dhoni) is in great shape, he almost killed me as soon as he came into bat. I don’t know what form you are talking about but every time I switch on the TV or every time I have played with him, he always seems to get the runs. He is somebody we all look up to, he is somebody who is a match-winner and he will always be one.”
Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav then showed their brilliance with the ball as they decimated the Sri Lankan batting unit, bundling them out for a paltry 87. Hardik Pandya too bowled well and got some wickets which would be a huge boost to his confidence. With all the boxes ticked, India would look to seal the series in Indore while Sri Lanka once again find themselves in a do-or-die situation and they would have to put up a brave show if they are to outplay the hosts.
Probable playing XI (India)-Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, MS Dhoni (wk), Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.
Probable playing XI (Sri Lanka)-Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Upul Tharanga, Kusal Perera/Danushka Gunathilaka, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Dasun Shanaka, Thisara Perera (c), Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando.