India vs Sri Lanka 2020: India's ideal XI for the T20I series

Team India bid adieu to 2019 by winning the ODI series against the West Indies team after a tough fight from the visiting side. They will now begin the new decade when they face the Sri Lankan team in a 3-match T20I series. The T20I series will kick off on January 5 at Guwahati where the two teams will square off in the first T20I. The itinerary of the three-match T20I series is as follows:

1st T20I - January 5 (Sunday) | Venue - Guwahati | Start time - 7:00 PM (IST)

2ndT20I - January 7 (Tuesday) | Venue - Indore | Start time - 7:00 PM (IST)

3rd T20I - January 10 (Friday) | Venue - Pune | Start time - 7:00 PM (IST)

Also see – ICC Under 19 world cup winners list

During the upcoming series, Shikhar Dhawan and Jasprit Bumrah will be making their comeback into the playing XI after missing out the previous series due to injury issues. Shikhar Dhawan will take the place of Rohit Sharma who has been rested for the series. Jasprit Bumrah will replace the injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Currently, India's batting line-up looks sorted so we can expect the same line-up that played in the last series. KL Rahul will open the batting with Shikhar Dhawan and the duo will look to give their team a flying start. Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant will form the middle order. Rishabh Pant is facing tough competition from Sanju Samson so he needs to score consistently in order to cement his spot in the XI. Shivam Dubey, Washington Sundar, and Ravindra Jadeja will play the role of all-rounders and will share the finishing job in the side.

Jasprit Bumrah will lead the bowling attack which will comprise of Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal. Navdeep Saini impressed during the West Indies series so he will get another chance to display his talents in the upcoming series. Ideally, India will need to play with this combination because they will have 6 bowling options and also cushion in the batting department.

Ideal XI: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dubey, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah