IND vs SL: Possible India Playing 11 for 1st T20I

IND Playing 11: The three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka at home will kick off on 24 February in Lucknow. The Men in Blue are flying high on confidence after winning both the white ball series against West Indies and will be looking to carry forward the momentum against Sri Lanka.

Led by Rohit Sharma, the T20 squad misses out on experienced campaigner and former skipper Virat Kohli. The flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shardul Thakur are the other notable absentees from the squad. However, IND vs SL 1^st T20I will also mark the return of India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

The 1^st T20I will be played in Lucknow on 24 February, followed by the 2^nd and 3^rd T20 in Dharamshala on February 26 and 27 respectively. The three-match T20I will be followed by 2 matches Test series scheduled to be played in Mohali and Bengaluru from March 04 and March 12 respectively.

Team News

Rohit Sharma will lead the side
Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Shardul Thakur have been rested
Sanju Samson has been added as the second wicketkeeper option along with Ishan Kishan
Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah have been added to the squad
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav have managed to retain their spots
Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar have been ruled out of the series due to injuries

IND Playing 11 (likely)

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rohit Sharma are expected to open with Ishan Kishan likely to bat at number 03
Shreyas Iyer and one of Sanju Samson or Deepak Hooda along with Ravindra Jadeja and Venkatesh Iyer will form the middle and lower-middle order
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, and Jasprit Bumrah are likely to pair up for the pace attack with Yuzvendra Chahal as the specialist spinner

Rohit Sharma (c)
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ishan Kishan (wk)
Shreyas Iyer
Sanju Samson/Deepak Hooda
Ravindra Jadeja
Venkatesh Iyer
Bhuvanehwar Kumar
Harshal Patel
Jasprit Bumrah
Yuzvendra Chahal

India Squad

Rohit Sharma (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan

Related: Best captain in the world

India vs Sri Lanka Dream11 captain, vice captain picks from IND

In the absence of former skipper Virat Kohli and other key batters in KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma is the mainstay of the Indian batting lineup. He looked in great touch in the white ball series against West Indies, especially in the shortest format at Eden Gardens. Sharma has slammed a ton at Lucknow Stadium in T20I against West Indies in 2018 and is a perfect pick for cap/vice-captain.

	Matches	Runs Scored	Strike Rate
Overall T20	366	9838	134.03
Against SL	15	289	143.78

Venkatesh Iyer is another batter from the home side who looked in good touch against West Indies. He was the second top run-scorer for India in the T20I series, scoring 92 runs in 3 innings, and picked up two wickets.