India vs Sri Lanka 1st T20I, Cuttack: Watch live stream on Hotstar
After winning the three-match ODI series by a game, the inform Indian team will now look to keep the winning run going against the Lankans in the first T20I to be played at Cuttack. The match can be streamed live on Hotstar at 7pm today (December 20).
Today's could be a close encounter as the hosts are resting some of their key players ahead of the tour of South Africa. Consequently, three young pacers along with the likes of Deepak Hooda and Washington Sundar have been included in the team. Sundar made his ODI debut during India's second ODI against Sri Lanka in Mohali last week.
India's batting will heavily rely on skipper Rohit Sharma, who will have KL Rahul to give him company at the top. Having lost his first match as captain, Sharma's record double hundred led a 141-run rout in Mohali and he will look to continue that form in the shortest format. A good start will be crucial for India to minimise the workload on the middle and lower order, which will be steered by Dhoni whose ability was doubted in the series against New Zealand.
Saurashtra left-arm pacer Unadkat, who last played in a T20I against Zimbabwe in June last year, has been recalled and India has three first-timers in Washington Sundar, Basil Thampi and Deepak Hooda. Baroda all-rounder Hooda had scored the fourth fastest Twenty20 century (108) by an Indian during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in February. It remains to be seen, however, if he's handed his debut cap with India already having two finishers in Dhoni and Hardik Pandya.
In the pace department, death bowling specialist Bumrah will shoulder the responsibility after Bhuvneshwar Kumar was rested. Kerala pacer Thampi has shown his ability to bowl yorkers.
With consistency during his Gujarat Lions stint in the IPL. While India will have a bit of concern in the pace department, Yadav and Chahal are expected to deliver. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have lost five T20Is on the trot, starting from the match against Bangladesh in April.
Here are the two squads for the T20I matches.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (C), K L Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Basil Thampi and Jaydev Unadkat.
Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera(C), Upul Tharanga, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Janith Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella, Asela Gunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dasun Shanaka, Chaturanga de Silva, Sachith Pathirana, Dananjaya De Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando and Dusmantha Chameera.