GUWAHATI, Jan 4 - The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Stadium here in Barsapara is all set to host the 1st T20I of the 3-match series between India and Sri Lanka tomorrow.
With the ICC T20 World Cup on their sights, the series holds quite a bit of significance for both the teams. Comeback man Jasprit Bumrah is likely to be in action and all eyes would certainly be on this 26-year-old pacer who has been India�s most successful bowler in recent years.
This match will be the third international match to be played at this ground after a T20I against Australia and an ODI against the West Indies.
The Men in Blue come into this contest on the back of T20I series victories against Bangladesh and the West Indies.
This year the Indian team will be playing close to 15 games before their T20 World Cup campaign starts against South Africa in Perth in October.
Although there is time for one to get a clear picture of what the team exactly for the mega event will look like but that won�t stop head coach Ravi Shastri and skipper Virat Kohli to set the ball rolling in this current series.
An important area of focus for the hosts during this series would be the form of Shikhar Dhawan.
Dhawan, like Bumrah, was not part of the West Indies series after he hurt his knee during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The left-handed opener was not at his absolute best in the T20I series against Bangladesh and faced criticism from several quarters.
However, recently, he scored a century in the Ranji Trophy and showed glimpses of returning to form. Alongside KL Rahul, he will be opening the innings in all the three matches and thus skipper Virat Kohli would want the southpaw to roar and return to his usual best.
Without Rohit Sharma, who has been given rest after a long time, the batting would revolve around Kohli who is set to surpass the star Indian opener when it comes to leading run-scorers in the shortest format of the game.
The team would be checking out how the likes of Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur react to pressure situations in death overs alongside Bumrah in the absence of frontline speedsters like Mohammed Shami (rested), Deepak Chahar (stress fracture) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (sports hernia).
Washington Sundar would like to put up performances that can ensure that only one among Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal can be picked in playing XI at any given point of time.
For Sri Lanka, the series would be about breaking the shackles and make sure they present a tough competition to the hosts, against whom they have never been able to win a bilateral T20I series.
Besides veteran pacer Lasith Malinga, the island team has players who have vast experience in international cricket like Angelo Mathews, Isuru Udana, Kusal Mendis, among others and thus, their fans would be hoping to see a team effort to stop India on their own backyard. However, going by the current form and records, that doesn�t seem to be happening.
India and Sri Lanka have faced each other in 16 T20Is, out of which India have won 11 � joint most for them against all opponents faced in the shortest format.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini and Washington Sundar.
Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (captain), Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Mendis, Lakshan Sandakan and Kasun Rajitha.
Match starts at 7 pm
