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When India and Sri Lanka meet in person on Saturday in Pallekele, it will be the beginning of a new chapter in their T20I history. With the retirement of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja from the Indian team, Suryakumar Yadav has been named captain. Wanindu Hasaranga has been replaced as the captain of Sri Lanka by Charith Asalanka, following the departure of Angelo Mathews. Additionally, both teams have a new head coach. Both Gautam Gambhir and Sanath Jayasuriya from Sri Lanka are available for India; Jayasuriya is only available temporarily.
Both teams are starting again, but they could not have come from more opposite places. After Sri Lanka was eliminated in the first round of the 2024 T20 World Cup, India finally ended their long-awaited trophy drought with the ICC.
India then sent a subpar team to Zimbabwe, where they won the five-match Twenty20 International series 4-1. Asalanka guided Jaffna Kings to victory in the Lanka Premier League, while the Sri Lankan players were occupied with other matters.
Asalanka and Suryakumar have both captained their countries’ teams in the past. In two Twenty20 Internationals this year against Bangladesh, Asalanka, and in seven T20Is against Australia and South Africa in late 2023, Suryakumar.
However, India is still not playing at their best for this series. Jasprit Bumrah, who is now regarded as the finest bowler in the world, has taken a break. On the other hand, Sri Lanka has already suffered some setbacks prior to the commencement of the series. They lost Nuwan Thushara (broken finger), Dushmantha Chameera (bronchitis), and now Binura Fernando (hospitalised for a chest illness).
With 15 wickets in nine matches while playing for the Colombo Strikers, Matheesha Pathirana was tied for second place in the LPL in terms of wicket-taking. His death bowling was even more remarkable. His economy of 7.02 was unquestionably the best among all those who bowled at least five overs at death during that time. Pathirana never bowled more than one over in the first half of the innings during the whole tournament; Sri Lanka is probably going to follow suit.
Prior to the T20 World Cup, Shubman Gill acknowledged that his performance in Twenty20 Internationals did not live up to his standards. He amassed 133 runs at an average of 16.62 and a strike rate of 126.66 in eight Twenty20 Internationals between August 2023 and the World Cup. Even though Gill performed significantly better in the IPL (426 runs at an average of 38.72 and a strike rate of 147.40), Gill was left out of the squad when India decided to open the World Cup with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. But by appointing him as vice-captain for both ODIs and T20Is, the selectors have demonstrated their faith in him. Gill now has to pay it back.