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Preview: 3rd T20I: India Vs Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam on February 14

By PTI

Visakhapatnam, Feb 13: Buoyed by an overwhelming victory in the previous game, a resilient India would look to continue the momentum and seal off their second successive T20I series win when they take on Sri Lanka in the third and final Twenty20 International, here tomorrow (February 14).

World T20 schedule</a>; <a href=Ind-SL series photos" title="World T20 schedule; Ind-SL series photos" />World T20 schedule; Ind-SL series photos

India shrugged off their embarrassing defeat in opening T20 match in Pune with a commanding show in Ranchi, where they outclassed the island nation by 69 runs to level the series.

MS Dhoni (left) and Jasprit Bumrah celebrate a wicket in the 2nd T20I in Ranchi on Friday (February 12)

The Indian batsmen had struggled to cope with the 'green' track in Pune but adjusted well on a slow strip at Ranchi, where they did not put a foot wrong. The bowlers, too, were in complete control, never letting the Sri Lankan batsmen dominate.

Moreover, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy was impressive and all his experiments, be it reshuffling of the batting order or bowling tactics, paid off. India not only mastered the conditions but also executed their plans to perfection.

The flying start that openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma provided India, gave Dhoni a chance to experiment with the batting order. The move to send Hardik Pandya ahead of himself and Yuvraj Singh worked well as the young batsman came up with a fiery cameo.

In Australia, Pandya did not get an opportunity to show his batting prowess but he certainly made an impression in Ranchi last night. It required a lot of muscle power and accurate shot selection to get runs and Pandya did a decent job.

However, Yuvraj Singh, who came to bat at number seven, did not get enough time and was out for a duck. It will be good if the elegant left-hander get some time to spend in the middle before the next month's World Twenty20.

Dhoni has conceded that it will be difficult to send him up the order since the top-four are doing extremely well but showed intent of giving Yuvraj more chances to bat for longer period.


Squads

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pawan Negi.

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Seekuge Prasanna, Milinda Siriwardana, Danushka Gunathilaka, Thisara Perera, Dasun Shanaka, Asela Gunaratne, Chamara Kapugedera, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilhara Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Binura Fernando, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeffrey Vandersay, Niroshan Dickwella.

Match starts at 7:30 PM IST (LIVE on Star Sports)

Next, India will play in Asia Cup from February 24 (Full Schedule)

PTI

Story first published: Thursday, August 3, 2017, 7:29 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 3, 2017