IND vs SL, 1st T20: The Indian team is all set to start their 2023, the year of the World Cup and the World Test Championship final. The men in blue will start their 2023 with a white ball series against their neighbours and in many ways one of their favourite opponents Sri Lanka. The Indian team led by Hardik Pandya will play three T20Is against Dasun Shanaka's Sri Lankan team. Before the start of this series, the Indian team was jolted by Rishabh Pant's tragic accident which took place on December 30, 2022.
Rishabh Pant has been India's first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman for many years now and has been playing three formats regularly. Undoubtedly he has been India's go-to player with the wicketkeeping gloves on but as of now he is severely injured and might miss out on the ODI World Cup too. Pant was not included in the T20I side and was to be sent to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for the strength and conditioning of his knees. Before the start of the series, the entire Indian team headed by Hardik Pandya and Rahul Dravid wished a speedy recovery for Rishabh Pant.
Here's the video:
The Indian team will play 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is against Sri Lanka. The first T20I will be played at the Wankhede Stadium. Ishan Kishan might be assigned the wicketkeeping duties while Shubman Gill might get his debut cap for India in the T20Is. India's big guns such as Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Rohit Sharma miss out, and they will return for the ODIs. Sanju Samson is also in the squad but he might not get a chance to start for India as Ishan Kishan is coming off a blistering 200 that he scored against Bangladesh in the 3rd ODI that was plyaed on December 10, 2022.
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India's T20I Squad against Sri Lanka: Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson(w), Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Rahul Tripathi, Mukesh Kumar, Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi
