Neighbours Sri Lanka travel to India for a three-match T20 International series. The T20I series kicks-off on January 05, 2020, at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati and apparently, will be the first assignment in the new year for both the teams. Needless to say that both team India and Sri Lanka will be looking to get off to a winning start in the new year. This will be the fourth T20I series for India at home this season. India vs Sri Lanka Series 2020 Schedule in IST, Free PDF Download: Get Fixtures, Time Table With Match Timings and Venue Details of Sri Lanka Tour of India.

India’s three-match series against South Africa ended in a draw. The first match was washed out, India won the second game and then South Africa draw level in the series by winning the last T20I. Against Bangladesh, India won the three-match series 2-1 after going down in the opening game. And in the recently concluded series against West Indies, India enraged victories by 2-1 as well.

India comes into the series ranked as number five in the ICC Rankings for T20Is while Sri Lanka are placed on the seventh spot. Even if India manage to win the series 3-0, there will be no change in their ranking. Jasprit Bumrah Back in Indian Cricket Team; Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami Rested As BCCI Announces Squads for Sri Lanka T20Is and Australia ODIs.

Meanwhile, as far as India’s playing XI for the series opener is concerned not many changes are expected. Opener Shikhar Dhawan is back in the team and will open with KL Rahul inlace of Rohit Sharma, who has been rested for this series. Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer are likely to bat at number three and four respectively, which means Manish Pandey will continue to warm the bench. Rishabh Pant has done well in his last few outings and will hold onto his place in the eleven. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is likely to take Shivam Dube’s spot, and his spin partners will be Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav. Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini and Jasprit Bumrah will form the pace trio, with the latter making a comeback from injury.

India’s Predicted Playing XI vs Sri Lanka in 1st T20I

Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 30, 2019 10:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).