India handed a debut to two youngsters in Shubhman Gill and Shivam Mavi. Captain Hardik Pandya presented the T20I cap to Mavi while vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav gave Gill his T20I cap before the toss.
Shanka talked about the Indian team stepping into the T20I series without regular captain Rohit Sharma and said that it is always challenging to play against the hosts irrespective of key players missing from the lineup.
Rohit Sharma has resumed batting in the nets but is anticipated to get back in action by the end of the first week of January and would be fully prepared for the ODI series against Sri Lanka.