New Delhi | Jagran Sports Desk: The T20I opener between India and Sri Lanka is scheduled to take place at Baraspara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Sunday (January 5). Men in Blue will be the favourites to win their third consecutive T20I series at home and start the year on a high. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will fancy their chances owing to the return of experienced fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah will make his return after recovering from a back stress fracture while Shardul Thakur will continue to feature in the squad in the absence of Deepak Chahar. Rohit Sharma is rested so Shikhar Dhawan is set to open the innings with KL Rahul.
When it comes to the visitors, Sri Lanka had suffered a whitewash against Australia in their past T20I series. Thus, they would like to improve in the upcoming series. Angelo Mathews is set to return in the T20 line-up for Sri Lanka after a gap of over an year.
Weather report:
A temperature of around 15-degree celcius with cloudy conditions is expected to prevail in Guwahati. There is a possibility of light rainfall (between 5.00- 6.30 pm-- may cost 5 overs each side) that could partly spoil the game.
India is yet to register a win at the venue in T20I. The last time (in 2017) they had played a contest was against Australia, which they lost by eight wickets.
The average first innings total is 127 runs. Bowlers are likely to dominate the match with spinners facing tedious task amounting to excessive dew.
Playing XI:
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.
Dream 11: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Kusal Perera(wk), Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Shreyas Iyer, Isuru Udana, Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga.
Dream 11 captain choice: KL Rahul, Kusal Perera or Virat Kohli.
Dream 11 vice-captain choice: Shikhar Dhawan, Lasith Malinga or Shreyas iyer.
Posted By: James Kuanal
