India and Sri Lanka will lock horns in the 1st T20I of Sri Lanka tour of India, 2023 on Tuesday, 3 January 2023, at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
India played their last series against New Zealand away from home which they won comfortably by 1-0.
Hardik Pandya will captain the Indian side which will be a young, new-look side.
Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan might open the innings while Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya will form the middle order.
Deepak Hooda and Washington Sundar could form the spinning all-rounder duo who can be relieved to choke up the runs and also hit the big shots when needed.
Axar Patel, who had a forgettable T20 World Cup might miss out.
With the ball, Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel are expected to lead the pace attack along with Umran Malik and Hardik Pandya.Â
Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar will handle the spin department, while Hooda will be the back up.
For Sri Lanka, this will be the first T20I assignment for the Lankans after the T20 World Cup.
All their players are coming into this series after playing a lot of cricket at home in the recently concluded Lankan Premier League.
With the bat, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis will be their openers.
In the middle-order, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya De Silva and Charith Asalanka will be a key along with skipper Dasun Shanaka who will do the finishing duties.
With the ball, Wanindu Hasaranga will lead the bowling attack.
He is in fantastic form along with Maheesh Theekshana, who is expected to bowl in the powerplay.
Lahiru Kumara will be their pace spearhead and will be supported by Chamika Karunaratne and Pramod Madushan.
Pitch and Weather
The pitch at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai is a balanced pitch, that helps batters and bowlers.
Temperature will hover around 24.61 °C and humidity is expected to be around 61%. 5.65 m/s winds are expected.
The average 1st innings score at this venue in the last 20 matches is 158 runs.
Interestingly, the pacers have taken 70% of the total wickets at this venue.
Head to Head record
Matches Played: 26
IND Won: 17
SL Won: 8
Tied: 0
No Result: 1
Squads of both teams
India:
Hardik Pandya (C), Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Ishan Kishan (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar
Sri Lanka:
Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga (Vice Captain), Ashen Bandara, Maheesh Theekshana, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Kasun Rajitha, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Lahiru Kumara, Nuwan Thushara
Key Players
Suryakumar Yadav averages 44.00 in T20 internationals.
He could end up as India’s highest run scorer in this opening match of the series.
Arshdeep Singh is the most likely candidate for top wicket-taker as took 4-37 in his last T20I.
He has taken 33 wickets from 21 matches which is phenomenal
Pathum Nissanka has hit nine half-centuries in T20Is and could be Sri Lanka’s top scorer.
With the ball, Wanindu Hasaranga ended the 2022 T20 World Cup as the top wicket taker and he could end up as Sri Lanka’s top wicket taker.
Prediction
We expect India to win as Hardik Pandya is known to be a great man manager and India’s players are brimming with confidence.
Also, the home conditions will favour Team India.
