SL vs Ind, 2nd T20: Shanaka wins toss, opts to field
Jul 28, 2021
Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 28 : Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and opted to bowl against India in the second T20I of the three-match series here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday.
Krunal Pandya tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and eight Indian players -- Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Ishan Kishan, and K Gowtham were identified as close contacts and hence they would not be playing the second and third T20Is.
As a result, four Indians -- Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya made their T20I debuts.
India captain Shikhar Dhawan said: "We would have batted first, so I'm happy with it. There are four debutants. Lots of changes due to obvious reasons. We're all looking forward to this. We're street-fighters and ready to face the challenges."
"Our main players aren't here, but that gives the chance to the younger players. They have created great energy for the last 45 days, and I'm glad they have got their chances. These things can happen in the current scenario, that's why we brought a large squad," he added.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked four while Deepak Chahar scalped two wickets as India defeated Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the first T20I on Sunday. As a result, the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.
India playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya, Varun Chakravarthy.
Sri Lanka playing XI: Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (w), Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dasun Shanaka(c), Ramesh Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera.
