Sri Lanka VS India, 2nd T20I

 

Rohit Sharma will hope for another complete performance from his side. © AFP

The Picture

Nothing seems to have changed with India not just winning yet another game with ease but bossing it along the way as well. It started with a maverick innings from their southpaw Ishan Kishan who until then looked out of touch but after crunching a cover drive of the seventh ball he faced, things looked a lot different and suddenly we got to see the Ishan we are accustomed to seeing in the IPL. He and Shreyas Iyer got their respective half centuries and ensured that India reached 199 which was in the end too much for the visitors as the hosts won by a mammoth 62 runs margin. Apart from Charith Asalanka who scored a fifty and put up a fight along with some hitting in the end by Karunaratne and Chameera, none of the Sri Lankan batsmen looked comfortable at the wicket and as a result, they were never in the game. India dropped a handful of catches, with Asalanka dropped twice and they will want to correct that aspect of their performance. Sri Lanka didn't fare any better dropping Ishan Kishan early on in his innings and the rest of the Indian batting summed up their day. They were lacklustre with the ball as well and never were in any position to stop the Indian juggernaut. Sri Lanka's uncompetitiveness was further enlargened by India's decision to not complete the full quota of their primary bowlers. Sri Lanka's character will be tested and they will have to find solutions and implement them quickly if they will want to have any say in this series going ahead. With the series on the line, India have a good chance of closing it right here before the last game on the following day. With the sheer pressure and pain of trying to salvage a series and the joy that comes with winning one expect both teams to put up a fight. India are favourites to march on to their 11th consecutive win but can the Lankans stop them in their tracks? We will find that out soon enough. 

When:   26 February 2022, Saturday

Time:    7:00 P.M (IST)

Where:  HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala

Team News

Sri Lanka

Mahesh Theekshana has been ruled out of the series due to injury and Kusal Mendis is yet to recover from one, which has led Sri Lanka to draft in their test players Dhananjaya de Silva and Niroshan Dickwella. Both are likely to play in place of a Kamil Mishara and a Dinesh Chandimal. 

Probable XI: Niroshan Dickwella, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage/ Dhanusha Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Lahiru Kumara

India

Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of the series with wrist pain and Mayank Agarwal has been drafted in his place. India will not want to change their winning combination and will look to go with the same team unless they feel the need for experimentation.

Probable XI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

Pitch and Playing Conditions

Dharamsala has hosted a couple of games in the past, with most of them abandoned due to the wrath of the weather Gods and another rain-affected game is expected come Saturday. Of the 6 completed games played at this venue, the team chasing has won twice while the team batting first has won four times.

Interesting Facts

Chahal has picked 67 wickets and with that, he has overtaken Bumrah who has 66 scalps as India's highest wicket taker in the format.