India v Sri Lanka, 1st T20I: Sri Lanka Predicted XI

After stunning India in the first game of the ODI series, Sri Lanka couldn’t quite maintain that momentum in the next two games and ended up losing another bilateral limited-overs series this year. They, however, will have to slide that under the carpet and start afresh in the T20I series that is starting tomorrow in Cuttack.

The last T20I series that Sri Lanka played, although they had been whitewashed by Pakistan, there were a lot of positives to take away as some young players had really stepped up to the plate in the absence of the seniors. However now that the seniors are back, most of those youngsters have had to make way and it looks a completely changed Sri Lankan squad. Here is their predicted XI for the first T20I:

Openers (Upul Tharanga, Kusal Janith Perera)

While Upul Tharanga was in decent touch in the one-dayers, Danushka Gunathilaka was out of sorts as he failed in all three games and let the Indian new ball bowlers make inroads early. The visitors may want to replace him with Kusal Janith Perera who has returned to the squad after recovering from a hamstring injury which he had sustained while playing in the Champions Trophy.

The 27-year-old Perera, who is also a left-hander, is an ideal player for the shortest format of the game as he doesn’t hang around and believes in giving the ball a whack right from the word go. He has built a reputation for himself in T20 cricket by playing quite a few match-winning innings for Sri Lanka in the past.

Middle order (Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella)

The Sri Lankans will probably make a change in the middle order as well. Although the young Sadeera Samarawickrama impressed one and all in the ODI series, he may have to watch the action from the sidelines tomorrow as Dhananjaya de Silva has got fit and he is likely to be slotted at no. 3. De Silva is a slightly more versatile player in comparison with Sadeera and he also provides a part-time off spinning option to the captain.

Angelo Mathews and Niroshan Dickwella will remain at 4 and 5 as they are indispensable parts of the Sri Lankan batting line-up. Dickwella will, however, have to try and build on his starts and not throw it away like he has been doing of late.

All-rounders (Asela Gunaratne, Thisara Perera, Chaturanga de Silva)

Gunaratne and captain Perera will be Sri Lanka’s finishers as both of them are capable of hitting them big under pressure. Perera has the experience of playing in various T20 leagues around the world and on his day, he can change the complexion of the game within a matter of few balls.

Chaturanga de Silva is pretty handy with the bat as well lower down the order, although he is not quite a big hitter like Perera and Gunaratne. De Silva’s principal job will be to deliver 4 economical overs of left-arm spin and fill in the quota of the 4th bowler.

Bowlers (Vishwa Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep)

Sri Lanka will be playing with three young fast bowlers in the absence of the mainstays Suranga Lakmal and Lasith Malinga. While Lakmal has been rested, the selectors have not picked Malinga because of his poor form and lack of game time.

Pradeep is the most experienced of the trio as he has a handful of games under his belt, but Fernando and Chameera are fairly new at this level. They are hugely talented though and the Sri Lankan think tank will like them to put their talent on display in front of a packed house at the Barabati Stadium.