Last Updated on 3 months by Charbel Coorey

SL vs IND 2nd T20 Dream11 Prediction Possible Playing 11 Pitch Report | SL vs IND 2nd T20 Dream11 Prediction Today | Sri Lanka vs India 2nd T20I Key Players | Colombo Pitch Report

In significant news on Tuesday, the second T20I was pushed back a day as Krunal Pandya tested positive to COVID-19. According to Express Sports, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw, Deepak Chahar, K Gowtham, Ishan Kishan and Yuzvendra Chahal were in close contact with Krunal. So, India will have an even newer looking team, with their batting lineup decimated.

Heading into India’s tour of Sri Lanka, the general consensus was that India, even with their first-team players in England, were expected to be way too good for their struggling rivals.

While India have won the majority of matches in this tour, Sri Lanka have shown positive signs since the first ODI thumping. After winning the third ODI, they were right in the first T20I, limiting India to 164/5 thanks to impressive death bowling. However, they lost too many wickets too regularly after a promising start.

Plus, only Minod Bhanuka (10 off 7) and Charith Asalanka (44 off 26) finished with a strike rate above 120, so the onus will be on the likes of Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga to produce more with the bat in the middle order.

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

Sri Lanka:

• Charith Asalanka continues to be a bright spot for Sri Lanka. Before the first T20I, Asalanka had a T20 strike rate of 127.39 (avg. 23), but he came out firing with 44 off just 26 balls. This was after a promising ODI series where he provided good resistance (38, 65, 24).
• Avishka Fernando will be key to Sri Lanka’s hopes. He was looking good to score more than his eventual 26 off 23 balls in the first T20I, and will be required to produce more in this T20I.
• Dhananjaya de Silva, as one of Sri Lanka’s experienced players, has a key role to play. He hasn’t been able to impact matches yet in India’s tour yet, as he has been dismissed time and time again by slower bowling (slower balls/spin). He has a T20I fifty vs India (three innings) and the most runs of any current SL player on this ground (6 inns, 164 runs, avg. 27.33, SR 107.89).
• Wanindu Hasaranga is very difficult to handle in such conditions. He took eight wickets in three T20Is in West Indies earlier this year, and with Colombo assisting spin, he was impressive in his spell of 2/28 in the first T20I. Sri Lanka will be hoping he can produce with the bat, too.
• Dushmantha Chameera is enjoying a solid year in T20s, with 12 scalps in seven matches at an economy rate of 6.60. This includes figures of 4/17 and 2/24 in his last two T20Is (vs England and India).

India:

• Another 40+ score awaiting skipper Shikhar Dhawan? He has a key role to play now that a number of players are out in isolation. He was looking pretty comfortable in the first T20I (46 off 36 balls), and averages above 40 vs Sri Lanka (335 runs, avg. 41.87, SR 135.62) and at this ground (6 inns, 244 runs, avg. 40.66, SR 141.86).
• Devdutt Padikkal is set to play and he has been a shining light for RCB since his IPL debut in 2020. He has scored 668 IPL runs with six 50+ scores in 21 matches. Key player.
• Ruturaj Gaikwad is all set to make his debut too as Shaw is in isolation. Gaikwad finished the first half of IPL 2021 in terrific form (65, 33, 75 and 4 in his last four matches). He will be keen to make a strong impact.
• There is no better time for Sanju Samson to lead the way than now. The talented right-hander continues to make starts, but India will be hoping he can make a big score today in the likely absence of a number of stars.
• Rahul Chahar is about to get an opportunity to further impress. He has taken 24 wickets in 15 T20 matches this year, including 11 wickets in seven matches in IPL 2021.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be key in the absence of Deepak Chahar. He will look to bowl their slower balls on a slow pitch after he took 4/22 in the first T20I.

Stats and Facts

• India have won 11 of their last 12 completed T20Is vs Sri Lanka.
• Dasun Shanaka has a bowling strike rate of just 15.33 against India (six wickets).
• Akila Dananjaya knows this ground well (18 T20s of experience). However, he struggles in T20Is vs India: 7 inns, 2 wickets, avg. 115.00, econ. 8.62.
• Sri Lanka last won a bilaterial T20I series vs Pakistan in 2019. They have lost five in a row since, and will be looking to avoid six here.

Possible Playing 11

Bhanuka Rajapaksa could come in for Ashen Bandara, who struggled badly in the first T20I (9 off 19 balls).

Sri Lanka: 1. Avishka Fernando, 2. Minod Bhanuka (wk), 3. Dhananjaya de Silva, 4. Charith Asalanka, 5. Ashen Bandara/Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 6. Dasun Shanaka (c), 7. Wanindu Hasaranga, 8. Chamika Karunaratne, 9. Isuru Udana, 10. Dushmantha Chameera, 11. Akila Dananjaya

Update: Krunal Pandya tested positive to COVID-19. He will miss the remainder of the series. According to Express Sports, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw, Deepak Chahar, K Gowtham, Ishan Kishan and Yuzvendra Chahal were in close contact with Krunal. So, India will field an even newer looking team, with their batting lineup decimated.

India: 1. Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2. Shikhar Dhawan (c), 3. Devdutt Padikkal, 4. Manish Pandey, 5. Sanju Samson (wk), 6. Nitish Rana, 7. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 8. Kuldeep Yadav/Sandeep Warrier, 9. Chetan Sakariya, 10. Rahul Chahar, 11. Varun Chakravarthy

R Premadasa Pitch Report and Weather

Spin and pace off the ball looked very effective in the first T20I. The spinners were in the wickets and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s slower balls reaped rewards. The chasing team has won 8 of the last 11 T20Is on this ground, with the average first innings score just below 164, which was the winning score in the first T20I.

There is a chance of rain interrupting the second T20I, but there should hopefully be enough play to constitute a result.

Dream11 Prediction

Note: Teams below are not based on the final playing XIs. We may not be able to update these teams in time after the final playing XIs have been announced.

TEAMS WILL BE UPDATED SOON IN LINE WITH PLAYER UPDATES.

Option 1:

Option 2:

Match Prediction

Sri Lanka have some positives to build on, and will be coming up against a severely depeleted India team. Sri Lanka should perform better in this game and win. However, an India win still won’t be a surprise.

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