The hosts field two debutants of their own – middle-order batter Charith Asalanka and allrounder Chamika Karunaratne
Toss Sri Lanka chose to bowl vs India
Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl first in the first T20I. Captain Dasun Shanaka said he expected the pitch to get better for batting in the second innings. India captain Shikhar Dhawan agreed, suggesting there could be some dampness in the surface for the seamers to exploit early on.
India fielded two debutants: Opening batter Prithvi Shaw plays his first T20I following good outings in the ODI series. For mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, it will be his first international.
Sri Lanka have two debutants of their own. Middle-order batter Charith Asalanka comes into the XI on the back of a decent ODI series. Allrounder Chamika Karunaratne also plays his first T20I, having impressed with bat in particular over the past week. There was no place, however, for Bhanuka Rajapaksa, the top-order batter who hit 65 off 56 in the third ODI.
There is a chance rain could interrupt this match, but the forecast suggests that a shortened match – at the very least – should be possible.
Sri Lanka: 1 Avishka Fernando, 2 Minod Bhanuka (wk), 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Charith Asalanka, 5 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 6 Ashen Bandara, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Chamika Karunaratne, 9 Isuru Udana, 10 Akila Dananjaya, 11 Dushmantha Chameera
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk),4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Sanju Samson, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf
Source: ESPN Crickinfo