IND vs SL 2021: Wasim Jaffer uses Godfather reference to guess Team India player from 3rd T20I who will feature in T20 World Cup opener

Former opener Wasim Jaffer has posted another interesting meme on Team India’s playing XI for the third T20I in Colombo. India have been forced to make massive changes in their playing XI after all-rounder Krunal Pandya tested COVID-positive on Tuesday.

In Thursday’s match, the decider of the three-match series, Team India handed a debut to Sandeep Warrier following the injury to Navdeep Saini. The second T20I saw four players making their debut - Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya.

Taking to his Twitter account, Jaffer shared a meme from ‘The Godfather’. The first image, featuring many actors from the movie, has “Indian players playing tonight” written on it. The second picture is a solo one with “Indian players playing tonight & likely to play T20 World Cup opener too” written on it. Jaffer shared the meme with the wacky caption:

“I'm sure everyone can guess the player. #SLvIND”

Team India crumble batting first in the deciding T20I

Having lost the second T20I, playing with a weakened XI featuring only five batsmen, Team India were forced to go in with the same batting combination in the final T20I as well.

Batting first after winning the toss, Team India lost skipper Shikhar Dhawan for a duck while Devdutt Padikkal was out for 9. Ruturaj Gaikwad (14) and Sanju Samson (0) were also dismissed cheaply as Team India ended the powerplay in big trouble at 29 for 4.

Earlier, speaking after winning the toss, Dhawan said they would be looking to post a good score on the board. He stated:

“We are gonna bat first. We'll look to post a good score. Our bowling is quite strong, so we are going to defend. We are just focusing on today's game, we are not going to take any pressure from the past. He (Navdeep Saini) is injured. We've got Sandeep Warrier; he's debuting today.”

Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka said he was happy to bowl first. He stated after losing the toss:

“Early wickets is going to do the trick. It'll be a big win for us. Winning is very important, it'll be very nice. Isuru Udana is out, Pathum Nissanka comes in.”

Team India Playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (w), Nitish Rana, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Sandeep Warrier, Chetan Sakariya, Varun Chakravarthy

Sri Lanka Playing XI: Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Pathum Nissanka, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera