After a much-needed break, team India is all set to host Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series, starting from January 5. Virat Kohli will look to lead his side with a positive intent and start the year on the winning note as the 1st T20I of the three-match T20I series will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, followed by the next two matches to be played at Indore (7th January) and then Pune (9th January).
Skipper Virat Kohli will be looking to start the year with a win, keeping the T20 World Cup in his mind which is scheduled to start in October this year. Sri Lanka will be led by the experienced Lasith Malinga. India has rested Rohit Sharma for the series while Shikhar Dhawan and Jasprit Bumrah will be making their comebacks after their injuries. Former Sri Lankan skipper, Angelo Mathews has also been included in the national squad for the T20I series, having been opted out of the T20 for as many as 16 months.
Looking at their head to head-t0-head rivalry in T20s, India has been a dominant force against the Lankas with 11 wins out of the 16 T20 matches played between both the sides.
Sri Lanka are coming off with a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Australia, while India are coming into the series on the back of two back-to-back series win against Bangladesh and West Indies. The series will mark the first International assignment for both the teams this year.
Team India is currently ranked 5th in the T20I rankings while Sri Lanka is at the 7th place. As both the teams will be looking to climb up the team rankings, here are some records and stats of the previous clashes between India and Sri Lanka:
- India has won the last four T20I series against Sri Lanka and in fact, India has never lost any series to Sri Lanka since Virat Kohli’s debut in 2008.
- Spinner Ravi Chandran Ashwin has the most number of wickets in the T20 matches played between India vs Sri Lanka till now with 9 wickets in 3 matches. He also has the best bowling figures of 4/8 in his spell.
- Rohit Sharma is the most successful captain of India in T20I against Sri Lanka with an impressive record of four wins and one loss as a captain.
- Rohit Sharma has the highest score against Sri Lanka as he scored 118 runs off 43 balls in 2017. In fact, he is the only batsman to score a century in India vs Sri Lanka contests in the shorter format of the game.
- Bowler Nuwan Pradeep has the worst bowling figure (2/61) in India vs Sri Lanka match in Indore in 2017 leaking runs an economy rate of 15.25.
- India posted the mammoth 260 runs against Sri Lanka in 2017 still remains the highest team total in India vs Sri Lanka T20I contests. Sri Lanka’s highest is 215/5 which they scored in 2009.
- Sri Lanka 82 all out in Visakhapatnam in 2016 is the lowest team total in the T20I contest between India and Sri Lanka till now. 87 all out is the second-lowest team as Sri Lanka were bundled out in 16 overs of the innings in 2016.
