India’s top orders need to consolidate on potentially flat fields in Rajkot
Big picture:
His first T20I series win in SL Eye India
The last time India lost a bilateral T20I series at home was in 2019 when Australia won her 2-0. Since then, they are undefeated in 11 series. But that could change on Saturday.
After a narrow win over India in her T20I in the first, Sri Lanka won her T20I in her second by a 16-run margin with her 1-1. Sri Lanka’s victory at Rajkot not only ends India’s winning streak, but also gives the visitors her first T20I streak in India in her six attempts. Sri Lankan hitters may not intimidate their opponents, but they understand the grammar of the format. During his second innings at T20I, Sri Lanka had at least one of his batters on center. It was Ksar Mendis in the first half and Dasun Shanaka in the second. Wanindu Hasaranga and Mahesh Tekshana are two of the smartest weirdos out there. If their fast bowlers click like they did in Pune, they can catch up with any side.
India, on the other hand, had two top-order collapses in the same number of games. Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel saved them in the first T20I and Suryakumar Yadav and Axar tried to keep them in the game in the second T20I. Aside from that, her entire bowling session didn’t click either.After his first T20I, Hardik Pandya talked about putting players in a difficult situation. In the form of a game that must be won, it has just that.
form guide
India LWTWL (last completed his 5 his T20I, new first)
Sri Lanka WLLWL
In the spotlight:
Arshdeep Singh and Dasun Shanaka
Arshdeep Singh, who made his T20I debut just six months ago, should be the pace attack leader for this revamped Indian team. He missed the first T20I due to illness and rolled five no-balls in two overs in the second, giving India 37. Overrun is an old Arshdeep problem and it’s time to fix it.
Dasun Shanaka loves playing against India. In the opening round, with 47 of his 27 pitches, Sri Lanka remained in contention. On Thursday, he smashed his T20I, the fastest in half a century from a Sri Lankan batsman, before he took two wickets in the final over of the game to seal the win. His last five T20I knocks against India are 56* (22), 45* (27), 33* (18), 74* (38) and 47* (19). With the ball he took more than half of his T20I wickets (14 of 23). At this rate, it will not be easy for India to remain undefeated.
Team news:
India, SL will make any changes?
After the second T20I, Rahul Dravid said India didn’t want to make too many changes unless there were injuries. So expect to use unmodified XI.
India (probable): 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Shivam Mavi, 9 Umran Malik, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
Sri Lanka may face a choice problem. Will they maintain their winning combo or will they try to improve further by replacing the disfigured Bhanuka Rajapaksa with Sadera Samarawickrama? It was the second highest run getter at 131.25.
Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Mendis (wk), 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Charith Asalanka, 5 Sadeera Samarawickrama/Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Chamika Karunaratne, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Dilshan Madushanka
Pitch and Conditions:
Holding a festival in Rajkot?
Rajkot Square is often compared to the neighboring national highway, so get ready for another running festival. This venue favors the pursuit team, so the team tries to throw the ball first after winning the toss. A sunny cool night is expected. The temperature should be about 17°C.
Statistics and what you need to know
Yuzvendra Chahal (88) needs three wickets to overtake her Bhuvneshwar Kumar (90) as India’s top wicket taker in T20Is.
Hardik leads India with his T20I in his 7th so far. On Thursday, he finished on the losing side for the first time.
Sri Lanka has never played an international match at SCA’s Rajkot Stadium.
In his T20I of his final 10, Rajapaksa scored his 137 runs, averaging 15.22 and batting 115.12.
Quotation marks
“They [Sri Lanka] have a T20I team that is pretty experienced in this series. They haven’t made too many changes to the team since the World Cup. They have great players. They have very good spinners and power hitters on the back end of the game. I think Dasun Shanaka is playing really well. They may have had some tough times, but they’re certainly not a team to take lightly at any stage.”
India head coach Rahul Dravid talks about opponents
“It’s not a mystery, it’s always the right line and length. If I don’t hit the right line and distance, they [the hitters] follow me. So when I’m bowling, I always try to focus on that. That’s why we’ve consistently performed well in this format.
Maheesh Theekshana reveals the method behind his mysterious spin.