1st T20I: Sri Lanka elect to bowl first against India in a fresh start for both teams

Pallekele: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the T20I series opener at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium here on Saturday. The match marks the start of a new era for both teams, who have new captains Suryakumar Yadav and Charith Asalanka taking charge.

From a coaching perspective, this will be the start of Gautam Gambhir’s coaching era for India, with Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate joining in as assistant coaches. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka have Sanath Jayasuriya as interim coach, as the hosts and India now focus on building a team for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

After electing to bowl first on a fresh pitch, Asalanka said, “It looks like a pretty good pitch and we want to see how it goes. We are going with a 6-5 (batters-bowlers) combination. I want to give every player a specific role and that’s why we are going with five bowlers. You can expect more wins and more consistency.”

Suryakumar said Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson and Khaleel Ahmed missed out on spots in India’s playing eleven. “It (the pitch) looks good and 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. That (World Cup) is history, we start from scratch and it is a new challenge.”

Playing XIs:

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

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.