Last Updated on 7 years by Charbel Coorey
Yes, India will play Sri lanka AGAIN, but let’s try be positive about it, shall we? Asia plays host to its first ever T20I Tri-Series, after Australia, New Zealand and England battled it out in a one-sided tournament recently, the first ever of its kind. In this article, I will preview each team briefly, and then have a light hearted look into some key predictions for the series (including Daniel Alexander, haha).
Sri Lanka, the home team, will be looking to continue the momentum from their recent successful tour of Bangladesh. However, despite thrashing Bangladesh twice in the T20Is, we must not forget that Sri Lanka were on a losing streak of eight matches before that, and despite India in particular not being full strength for the series, I’m not fully confident that Sri Lanka will take advantage. It remains to be seen if the likes of Kusal Mendis and Thisara Perera can continue on from their excellent showings in Bangladesh.
India usually test their bench strength in dead-rubber matches, but this tournament is a great opportunity to test fringe players in pressure situations. Sure, this series might not rank too highly on their priority list for 2018, but I’m sure India would not like to lose a series involving two Asian rivals. Had they had a full strength side, there is no doubt in the world they would have been too good for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. But, key personnel missing levels the playing field a little, and it will be interesting to see how India go.
Bangladesh have had a shocking start to 2018. A home series involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe should have meant success, but they lost the Tri-Series, Test Series and T20Is, which was arguably their lowest point since 2014. The loss of Shakib Al Hasan has haunted Bangladesh big time over the last few weeks, and desperately need their bowlers to show some sort of fight. It’s tough to see them doing well in this series, but when the expectations are low, that’s when they’ve often prospered. It will be interesting to see if they can do that in this series.
With that, here are my predictions for the Nidahas Trophy:
Daniel Alexander will block at least 15 Indian fans on Twitter throughout the series!
In case you don’t know who Daniel Alexander (@daniel86cricket) is, he is a proud Sri Lankan fan and administrator at Island Cricket. It’s safe to say he doesn’t like the Indian team, and the India fans don’t like him either.
In this series, I expect there to be plenty of banter between fans and Daniel. If India are successful, he will be the target of plenty of trolling, and if Sri Lanka are successful, he will dish out plenty of trolling! All in all, I expect a few fans to be blocked :p
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| Don’t mess with Daniel Alexander! |
Bangladesh will not win a single game
As an ardent follower of Bangladesh cricket since 2006, I am so disappointed with the step backwards the Tigers have taken so far in 2018. In the past, they have managed to win some games without Shakib Al Hasan, but at the moment, they look absolutely lost without him.
I expect this to continue in this series, with Bangladesh’s bowlers in particular under the spotlight. In the recent 2-0 series loss to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh failed to defend nearly 200 in the first match (SL chased 194 within 17 overs) and then conceded 210 in the second game en route to a huge 75 run loss.
It was reported that Courtney Walsh, who I believe isn’t making a great impact as Bangladesh bowling coach, spent some time with his fast bowlers working on their mental strength. Will it pay off? I don’t think so. In a recent article I wrote, full of passion, I spoke of the danger Bangladesh cricket faces after Shakib retires. You can see the article here. Will Bangladesh give their fans some hope that the future after Shakib doesn’t look so bad? I don’t think so.
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| No Shakib, no Bangladesh at the moment… |
Leading run scorer – Rohit Sharma (India)
Rohit Sharma will lead India this series in the absence of Virat Kohli, and I think he will also lead the run scoring charts. Rohit has had a good time against both these sides, most notably his last innings vs Sri Lanka, where he amassed 118 off 43 balls, and it was widely anticipated he could even reach 200.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh both have bowling attacks that have struggled in this format over the last few years, and Rohit, in a less experienced India line up, will be keen to stand up and be counted. With this in mind, I expect him to have a good series – the best out of any batsman.
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| Rohit scored 118 (43) in last meeting v Sri Lanka |
Leading wicket taker – Yuzvendra Chahal (India)
This category is one where I think Bangladesh (Mustafizur Rahman) and Sri Lanka (Akila Dananjaya) could have some joy. However, I think Yuzvendra Chahal will continue to build on his superb showing in South Africa, and will have a great time against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh batting line ups that are prone to collapses.
It was said that T20s could be the death of the spinner, but it has proven to be very wrong. I believe a spinner will top the wicket taking charts (unexpected given the conditions), and it will be Chahal to achieve it.
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| Yuzvendra Chahal continues to shine |
Winners – India
Yes, India are without Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav, but they are still my pick to take out the title.
They’ll still beat Bangladesh comfortably in my opinion, which leaves Sri Lanka, still a struggling T20I side, who themselves are without Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne and recent ODI Tri-Series hat-trick hero Shehan Madushanka.
India possess strong bench strength. In addition to Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal, keep an eye out for Suresh Raina, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Manish Pandey and Jaydev Unadkat, who will be keen to gain form ahead of the IPL. India’s side, even without some of their biggest stars, still excite me more than Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and I expect them to deliver on the field.
India v Sri Lanka final – India win.
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