India vs Sri Lanka Live Score, 1st T20I: India’s newly-appointed captain/head coach pair of Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav will start their tenure against a faltering Lankan side in the first of three T20Is World on Saturday.
The former two-time World Cup victor, Gambhir, has served as the head coach of India while Suryakumar has been named as the new T20I captain who happens to be among the top-notch T20I batsmen.
Gambhir takes over from Rahul Dravid, who took his side to finals of previous editions of every ICC competition. Known for his pugnacity and intense approach, Gambhir is expected to bring in a different coaching style that he may need players to get used to along with guidance from Suryakumar.
Suryakumar became captain ahead of Hardik Pandya which surprised many people since he had lesser experience in this role. According to selectors, they said that they needed a captain who was on the field “more often than not” and also considered “dressing room feedback” in picking the squad.
Ajit Agarkar and company have enough time at their disposal in order to rebuild the squad before next year’s twenty-twenty World Cup which will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
Youngsters such as Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh or Riyan Parag must now face this period as an important opportunity for them to secure spots due to retirements from T20 cricket by Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja all at once.
In sum Axar Patel just fills Jadeja’s shoes perfectly thus making Indian all-rounder’s department strong with options like Pandya Shivam Dube Washington Sundar
Jasprit Bumrah is being rested for this tour hence providing a chance for Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj to impress on favorable pitches at the Pallekele International Stadium that favor pace and bounce.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka will miss two key bowlers – Dushmantha Chameera who has bronchitis paired with respiratory infection and Nuwan Thushara, who fractured his finger.
They have been replaced by Asitha Fernando as well as Dilshan Madushanka whose fifth wicket haul famously came when India met Sri Lanka in the ODI World Cup.
