India pick Parag ahead of Dube and Samson for first T20I against Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s newly-appointed captain, Charith Asalanka, won the toss and decided to bowl first in the first T20I against India at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on July 27 (Saturday).

This is also Suryakumar Yadav’s first game as India’s full-time T20I captain, and also the Men in Blue’s first match under new head coach Gautam Gambhir. 

The GG era has well and truly begun.

Win record in Pallekele

Teams batting first: 13

Teams batting second: 9

Here is what the two captains said at the toss 

Charith Asalanka - “We are going to bowl first. It looks like a pretty good pitch and we want to see how it goes. We are going with a 6-5 combination. I want to give every player specific roles, and that's why we are going with five bowlers.

Suryakumar Yadav - “The pitch looks good and it is fine to bat first. The brand of cricket remains the same. The relationship me and him (Gambhir) have had for so many years is special. Dube, Samson, Khaleel and Washington are the four players to miss out. That (World Cup) is history, we start from scratch and it is a new challenge.”

Playing XIs

Sri Lanka - Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera, Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Dasun Shanaka, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka

Dinesh Chandimal,  Binura Fernando, Avishka Fernando, Dunith Wellalage and Chamindu Wickramasinghe are the ones to miss out for Sri Lanka. 

India - Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Riyan Parag, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj

Alright, India have made some bold calls in terms of their playing XI. They have left out Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube, who were part of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad and have gone with Riyan Parag. Washington Sundar, who was the Player of the Series against Zimbabwe, has also been dropped.

Here's how the pitch might behave

Saba Karim and Farvez Mahroof - “The weather looks pleasant. There's a cool breeze blowing across the ground. The wicket looks good. We had three LPL games here and that surface looked different. We see cracks. It might get slower once the ball loses its hardness but come evening it should be good for batting. We expect a lot of runs here.”

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