India would aim to cap off their super successful Sri lanka tour with another ruthless victory in the one-off T20 International here on Wednesday.
Any other result than India's resounding win looks highly unlikely on Wednesday, considering the visitors' rampaging run in the preceding Test and ODI series, where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 and 5-0 respectively. The game provides India an opportunity to fine-tune team combination ahead of the upcoming T20 home series against Australia and New Zealand. In total, India would play nine T20.
Internationals this home season and all contests will be a three-match series.
India are on an experimentation drive ahead of the 2019 50-over World Cup and one name they could have tried here is Rishabh Pant, who was not named in the squad. Pant has previously featured in two T20Is against England and West Indies, but was kept out of this tour on account of his poor run for India A in South Africa, as stated by chief selector MSK Prasad after the team selection.
Rohit Sharma slots back in automatically, for he didn't travel to the Caribbean earlier whilst Kl Rahul and Manish Pandey will be expected to bring up the middle order.
Kedar Jadhav scored a much needed half-century in the final ODI, and he could be afforded another chance to prove his credentials as India prepare for a long limited-overs' schedule at home.
Hardik Pandya was rested for that fifth match on Sunday, and he too is expected to return to the playing eleven. Pandya hadn't featured in India's last T20I against the West Indies, with Kohli opting for five full-time bowlers back in July. His return to the playing eleven could allow for a bowling combination similar to the ODIs, with four full-time options to choose from.
Jasprit Bumrah is a shoe-in of course, whilst it remains to be seen if Shardul Thakur will get another go after proving expensive in the last match at Bhuvneshwar Kumar's expense.
Kohli does like to field leg-spinners in the shortest format, and he played both Yuzvendra Chahal and Amit Mishra against England at both Nagpur and Bengaluru. He is expected to repeat this trick with Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav this time around.
Meanwhile, Sri lanka have made a few changes to their original T20 squad after suffering the 5-0 whitewash. leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay and seam-bowling all-rounder Dasun Shanaka are prominent additions. Pacer Suranga lakmal makes a comeback after injury, as he had been ruled out ahead of the second Test in August. Mystery spinner Akila Dananjay has also been added to the squad.
Vandersay had made an impression for Sri lanka in the World T20 last year, but suffered from injury issues since and hasn't been a regular feature of the side.
Surprisingly, left-arm leg spinner lakshan Sandakan has been left out of the squad. lasith Malinga has been picked again, however.
The spotlight will be on skipper Upul Tharanga though. This will be his first T20 match in-charge after Angelo Mathews gave up captaincy post the loss to Zimbabwe prior to the Indian tour.