Sri Lanka vs India, 1st ODI: India To Kick-Off Limited-Overs Tour With Eye On T20 World Cup

Sri Lanka vs India: India kick-off their limited-overs tour when they take on Sri Lanka in the first ODI on July 18 at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

A bunch of fresh faces will be desperate for a fair T20 World Cup audition when India's different-looking yet formidable white-ball squad face an under-fire Sri Lanka in the six-match limited overs contest, beginning with the first ODI at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday. Winning any international series will be paramount but one can expect a few combinations being tried out during a series which got delayed by five days due to COVID-19 scare in the Sri Lankan camp. The series comprises three ODIs and as many T20s. Dasun Shanaka is their 10th captain in four years and barring a classy batsman like Dhananjaya de Silva and a steady pacer in Dishmantha Chameera, this team lacks quality to challenge the might of Indian team led by Shikhar Dhawan. The suspension of Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella due to bio-bubble breach in UK along with injury to former skipper Kusal Perera puts Sri Lanka in a tight spot. If they can manage to win one game, that will be an achievement in itself after a disastrous tour of England. Expect Prithvi Shaw, Vijay Hazare Trophy's top scorer to open alongside Dhawan, while seniors Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are expected to find automatic slots in the playing XI. However there are multiple contender for other slots. Will it be Devdutt Padikkal or Ruturaj Gaikwad for No 3 slot? Will Suryakumar Yadav's 360 degree hitting ability be used or Manish Pandey get a final chance to show some consistency?