Nidahas Trophy: Challenge for revamped India to justify favourites tag in tri-series opener

After an eventful tour of South Africa, Indian team is all set for the final series of their prolonged season. In the absence of seniors players like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, who were rested after a hectic 2-month long tour of South Africa, revamped Indian team under the leadership of Rohit Sharma will face Sri Lanka in the opening Twenty20 International encounter of the tri-nation series at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday.

New Delhi: After an eventful tour of South Africa, India is all set for the final series of their prolonged season. In the absence of seniors players like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, who were rested after a hectic two-month long tour of South Africa, revamped Indian team under the leadership of Rohit Sharma will face Sri Lanka in the opening Twenty20 International encounter of the tri-nation series at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday.

That's what the three teams are playing for - The Nidahas Trophy which is all set to begin from the 6th of March 2018 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/MO8gGuTdWz

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 5, 2018

The decision of BCCI to rest key players will give the chance to some promising young players to make their mark. Players like Washington Sundar, Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda and Mohammad Siraj were included in the squad after series of good performances in the domestic season are rearing to give a trouble times to both the team in the series.

"We are happy to be here and expect to play some good cricket in the Nidahas Trophy. It is an honour for me to lead the side and it is going to be no different in this series. I am excited to see how this young team performs," said Rohit Sharma ahead of the first encounter.

On the other hand, injuries have taken the front seat for the hosts before the start of the series as Asela Gunaratne, Shehan Madushanka and Angelo Mathews have been ruled out. Now it all depends on Dinesh Chandimal, Upul Tharanga, Thisara Perera and Suranga Lakmal to get the team going.

The return of Kusal Perera, who missed Bangladesh T20Is due to injury, will also be an advantage of the hosts.

After a disastrous 2017, the Islanders will look to give some quality performances to shut down their critics.

The tri-nation Nidahas Trophy series which will be contested between Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh will have 7 matches including the finals. All matches will be played in R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Squad
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj and Rishabh Pant (wk).

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (Captain), Upul Tharanga, Kusal Mendis, D Shanaka, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, D Gunathilaka , Jeevan Mendis, S Lakmal (VC), I Udana, Akila Dananjaya, A Aponso, N Pradeep, D Chameera, D De Silva