Cuttack T20I: India eye another series win against Lanka

Cuttack [India], Dec 20 (ANI): India will look to continue their winning run against Sri Lanka when they head into the first T20Is of the three-match series at the Barabati Stadium here on Wednesday.

In the absence of Virat Kohli, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma will continue to lead the team, while Thisara Perera will captain the visiting side.

Having clinched the Test and ODI series against Lanka, the hosts will be aiming to extend their dominance in the shortest format as well and bag another series triumph.

Lanka, on the other hand, will look to reassess their form and bounce back in order to end their long tour to India on high.

Indian team's bench strength is expected to be tested as Kohli and some regular players have been rested for this T20I series.

It should be noted that India have played five T20I series this year and won three of them, suffered a loss in one and drawn another.

The hosts currently lead Sri Lanka 7-4 on head to head count in T20Is and are yet to lose against them in the last four outings.

Earlier, India failed to have a dream start to their ODI series in the absence of regular skipper Kohli, but the Men in Blue rebounded strongly in style as stand-in skipper Sharma took the attack to the opposition with his fearless batting.

Sharma, who notched a record third double century in ODI, will eye to seal off the T20I series as well.

The two squads are as follows:

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), K L Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Basil Thampi, and Jaydev Unadkat.

Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera (capt), Upul Tharanga, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Janith Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella, Asela Gunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dasun Shanaka, Chaturanga de Silva, Sachith Pathirana, Dananjaya De Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando, Dusmantha Chameera.(ANI)