Venue: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Time: 3:00PM IST
Average score at venue: 302
Win percentage while batting first: 80%
Pitch Conditions:
- All matches of this six-game tour for India against Sri Lanka will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, which is the capital city of the island nation with the venue being the largest in terms of sitting capacity of approximately 35,000.
- India and Sri Lanka have a mixed record in one-day cricket at this venue, which tends to support batsmen with even bounce and carry off the pitch.
- Fast bowlers have a greater wicket-share percentage at this venue with 66.67% of the wickets coming in their kitty, compared to spin bowlers’ 33.33%.
Weather prediction:
The opening ODI between India and Sri Lanka could be impacted by poor weather, with clouds being present throughout the match hours. There are warnings of scattered thunderstorms in the evening, with temperature lingering around 27-28 degree Celsius and humidity in excess of 80%.
Head-to-head performance:
Matches played: 159
India won: 91
Sri Lanka won: 56
Tied: 1
No result: 11
AT R PREMADASA STADIUM, COLOMBO:
Matches played: 33
India won: 15
Sri Lanka won: 15
No result: 3
Top 3 players from India: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav
Top 3 players from Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana
Top picks for H2H/WTA contest (top 5 players each)
Top 5 players from India: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Varun Chakravarthy
Top 5 players from Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Bhanuka Rajpaksa
Q&A:
Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
It is a contest between two heavily lopsided teams in terms of manpower as well as confidence. India are a cricket powerhouse whereas Sri Lanka are barely managing to get by tournaments and challenges. The visiting Indian squad consists of several extremely talented and deserving players who want to make a mark on the international scene and present their case for selection in the regular team. At the same time, once a team that always challenged India despite the size of their cricket setup and financial strength, Sri Lanka have somehow managed to put up a squad while battling several issues around players’ contracts, disciplinary matters and fitness. There are a few debutants in the Sri Lankan camp as well — something that this strong Indian team would like to exploit with their overall might. With R Premadasa stadium being favourable to batsmen, it would be wise to go with more batting strength in the opening match of the series.
From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
Even though Sri Lanka are the host team and should naturally enjoy the home benefit, also keeping in mind their 50-50 record against India at R Premadasa stadium in one-day cricket, it is the visiting team which looks incredibly strong and red-hot favourites. Also, given the kind of firepower Indians have in all departments combined with the hunger that many of the new players carry in their bellies to make their case. Sri Lanka have plenty of new faces along with those who may not be called their first-choice players — a situation which could have been avoided if everything was alright with their cricket, which in reality is not. Unquestionably, India are the team which is stronger and should have more players in the fantasy cricket playing XI.
MORE INFORMATION:
Players’ form: This is the perfect audition for the future of both Indian and Sri Lankan cricket as they look to address the demands of the future with this series. India have plenty of players such as Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Manish Pandey, Prithvi Shaw, Deepak Chahar, Rituraj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal and a few others who are out there to make their mark and prove that they are multi-format players and not just T20 specialist — as some might imagine them to be given their exploits in the Indian Premier League (Indian T20). On the other hand, Sri Lanka have new leadership pair in Dasun Shanaka and Dhananjaya de Silva, who have a great responsibility of steering their cricket team out of troubled waters against a team expected to be ruthless, accurate and clinical.
While Sri Lanka will enter the series on the back-foot given that they are without the desired firepower, missing some big names such as Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella and batting star Kusal Mendis to name a few, they still have some promising young talent in Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Kumara, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera and Charith Asalanka to go with. The form of all these players will be determined over the next few days, since the Indian cricketers are coming off a long break and Sri Lanka have had a change in personnel post their disastrous tour of England.
Changes in squad (if any): NO
LIKELY XIs:
INDIA (IND): Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy
ENGLAND (ENG): Avishka Fernando, Pathum Nissanka, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Minod Bhanuka (wk), Dasun Shanaka (c), Dushmantha Chameera, Isuru Udana, Lahiru Kumara, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan/Kasun Rajitha.
FANTASY XI:
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dasun Shanaka (c), Akila Dananjaya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar.
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India eye winning start to Sri Lanka tour
In the days leading to this series, former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga expressed his unhappiness over the fact that India sent a supposedly ‘second string’ team to face Sri Lanka in their own backyard for three ODIs and as many T20 internationals. Ranatunga must be an overly optimistic man, having led Sri Lanka to ultimate highs in his playing days, but someone who may not just be aware of the ground reality of the island nation’s cricket or someone who is happily and blatantly ignoring it.
The fact is that Sri Lanka are struggling on multiple fronts ranging from contracts of their players to fitness issues and even disciplinary matters, which has resulted in them banning three of the top cricketers in Dickwella, Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka for breaching Covid protocols on the recent tour of England. It was indeed a shocking act of desperation by the cricketers who displayed no regard or respect to the strenuous efforts that cricket authorities have been putting up over the last one-and-a-half years to make sure cricket goes on.
These three cricketers have been handed one-year ban each which means Sri Lanka are likely to continue struggling in the time to come, especially when they are unable to produce cricketers of quality that their former cricketers — something what would perhaps please Ranatunga.
The squad to face India includes three uncapped players as Sri Lanka will hope to make some dent in the confident Indian cricket team full of young and desperate players, ready to make a mark in the biggest stage of international cricket.
The most exciting aspect of the series is not just the young and raw talent from both the teams upon display, but that the great Rahul Dravid will be taking charge of coaching responsibilities of the Indian team. There is a lot of talk already going around that the former India captain will someday take over the charge of the national team for a full-time role, something that remains to be seen but may not happen for the simply because Dravid, not hungry for limelight and public approval, is passionate about working with young and upcoming talent, polishing their cricket as well as their lives rather than working with experienced players that tend to play in the national team. Dravid has a World Cup victory at the U-19 level and the time, in the opinion of many cricket experts, is ripe for him to grace the international stage with his presence.
The tour will also be a litmus test for the venerable Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, who has been in an intense competition for a spot in the Indian top order. Dhawan’s leadership skills will be tested to the hilt over the next six matches, but he and his boys are expected to win each and every game they play on this tour.
Sri Lanka have been on a downward spiral. They have lost 31 out of 50 matches in since January 2018, with only 17 wins in their kitty. At the same time, India have played 60 matches and have won 38 while losing 19. Clearly, the ball is in India’s court.
