As the third and final T20I between Sri Lanka and India gets underway at Pune on Friday, all eyes will be on the two openers from the host nation, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan. With Rohit Sharma rested for the ongoing series, the opportunity is ripe for the two to make a strong case for themselves as the second opener in the side against a mediocre bowling attack. While the duo of Rohit and Dhawan have helped India to many victories in the recent past, Rahul makes for a better opener in the shortest format, with his all-round and aggressive game suiting the team better than Dhawan’s often sedate approach.
The Karnataka batsman was the star of the show in the second game, however, as he got the team off to a quick start chasing 142, and the onus will be on the left-handed Dhawan to level the scores and silence the questions hovering over his head. How keen he is to get back to form after an injury lay-off was evident in the long nets session that Dhawan opted for on Thursday. While Rahul missed the optional session, Dhawan, who had looked rusty in the second game against the Lankans, made full use of the training facilities in Pune and had the longest stint among the members present – for well over two and a half hours.
With the countdown to the next T20 World Cup in full force, it will be interesting to see if Dhawan can make use of his chances on the belter of a track at Pune.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will be without the services of Isuru Udana, the left-arm fast bowler who had injured his back at Indore. Already without many resources in the bowling unit, the visitors are now left with effectively a one-man attack, with skipper Lasith Malinga hardly having any support. The injury will most likely mean the entry of Angelo Mathews into the side after almost 16 months.
The Sri Lankan batters had looked at sea against the Indian fast bowlers in the second game of the series after the first had been washed away. Sans Kusal Perera, none of the batters managed to make any sort of impact against the pace, variations and the lines that the Indian pacers bowled. Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur were on the mark as they persistently troubled the players from the Emerald Isle.
The presence of Mathews, then, will give the team some sort of solidity, and Malinga along with head coach Mickey Arthur will be hopeful that the Sri Lankans can put up some sort of fight.
The teams (from)
India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, K.L. Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar and Sanju Samson.
Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Mendis, Lakshan Sandakan and Kasun Rajitha.
On-field umpires: Virender Sharma, Nitin Menon.
TV umpire: C. Shamshuddin. Reserve umpire: K. Srinivasan
Match referee: David Boon
Match starts at 7 p.m.