India started off the new year and their home season with a T20I series against their island neighbours, Sri Lanka, on January 3rd at the scenic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to field first, citing the dew was a key factor driving his decision. India’s interim skipper Hardik Pandya, on the other hand, said he was going to bat first anyway, as the team wants to “put ourselves in more difficult situations generally in bilaterals”.
From this second-string squad, India handed out two caps. Shubman Gill and Shivam Mavi made their T20I debuts today, with this being Mavi’s first-ever international match for India while Gill had already made his debuts in the other two formats.
One major missing link for India today was Arshdeep Singh, who, Pandya, said was “unavailable” for this first T20I against Sri Lanka. Arshdeep was given a rest from the Bangladesh ODI series last month after a long trip to Australia for the T20 World Cup 2022 and the following ODI and T20I series in New Zealand. The left-arm pacer, who had made his India debut after the IPL 2022, was a crucial cog of India’s bowling attack in the T20 WC.
Arshdeep Singh is recovering from an illness and hasn’t yet recovered fully yet.
Hence he was omitted from this game, thus paving way for Shivam Mavi to make his T20I debut. India’s pace bowling attack look a bit in the absence of Arshdeep as the young Umran Malik and Mavi partner the out of form Harshal Patel.
After the toss had happened, the BCCI, on their Twitter handle, gave the update on why Arshdeep Singh was missing from today’s playing XI.
“Note – Arshdeep Singh wasn’t available for selection for the 1st T20I against Sri Lanka since he has still not fully recovered from his illness,” the BCCI said.
Note – Arshdeep Singh wasn’t available for selection for the 1st T20I against Sri Lanka since he has still not fully recovered from his illness.#INDvSL
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 3, 2023
Teams:
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka
India (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan(w), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Shivam Mavi, Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal
