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Indian players greet Sri Lankan batsmen after India won the 2nd T20I in Indore. (AP Image)
The 3rd T20I between India and Sri Lanka will be played on December 13.It will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and the live broadcast will be shown on Star Sports 1, 3 and Star Sports 1, 3 HD, starting 7 PM. The match can be streamed online on www.hotstar.com. For live scores, updates, and analysis, you can follow our live blog on cricketnext.com.
or the islanders, it has been a forgetful year, and the two recent defeats against India have just added to their misery.
While the hosts thrashed Sri Lanka by 93 runs in the first match at Cuttack, they outclassed them by 88 runs in Indore to seal the series. The visitors also lost the ODIs 1-2 and drew a blank in the Test series held earlier.
On the other hand, India have been cruising across all formats and would surely look to end a successful year with another thumping win ahead of a tough tour of South Africa where they play three Tests, six ODIs and three T20s.
The constant one-sided results may not be an ideal preparation for India for the upcoming tour, but the positive thing is that in absence of seniors including inspirational captain Virat Kohli, the youngsters have taken responsibility and delivered in the T20s and ODIs.
Stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma, who equalled David Miller's record of the fastest ever T20 century during his 43 -ball 118-run innings in Indore, is in peak form and he would love to continue his good run at his home ground.
Be it K L Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey or the experienced campaigner Mahendra Singh Dhoni -- all have chipped in when needed and coach Ravi Shastri would expect them to fire big time on Sunday.
Especially Rahul, who already has two fifties to his credit, would surely want to add one more to his kitty and make a strong statement before the team's upcoming tour. Iyer, the local boy, scored in the opening game, but he needs to stay at the wicket and convert his starts to big knocks.
India has promoted Dhoni up the order on Friday and the former captain justified the team's decision by scoring at a brisk pace. The same can be expected in Mumbai if the openers give a flying start.
This Indian batting line up can destroy any bowling attack and Sri Lanka's toothless bowlers just provide them more opportunity to be devastating and ruthless. The credit for preparing good bench strength should be given to the Indian Premier League and the robust domestic circuit.
Wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, who starred last night too, have cemented their place by picking up regular wickets after their international debuts. The selectors would be seeing how Saurashtra pacer Jaydev Unadkat performs, as he can be an important cog in the scheme of things after veteran pacer Ashish Nehra called it a day.
Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have already cemented their place in the team and a good game for them will boost their confidence ahead of a gruelling tour. But having won the series, the team management may decide to play some young guns like Basil Thampi, Washington Sundar and Deepak Hooda.
First Published: December 24, 2017, 9:27 AM IST