2 important player battles in India vs Sri Lanka series

The primary Indian team led by Virat Kohli is set to play a 5-match test series against England next month. The Indian selection committee has chosen another 20-member squad to play in Sri Lanka later this month.

It will be interesting to see how the Sri Lankan team performs in this limited-overs series. Most of their senior players would probably miss out on the series. The most experienced Sri Lankan ODI specialist Dimuth Karunaratne was excluded from the contract before the series against India.

Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella, and Danushka Gunathilaka were also given a one-year suspension. They had breached the bio-bubble in England resulting in a protocol break that led to their suspension.

Angelo Mathews also requested Sri Lankan cricket to release him from national duties due to personal reasons. He has been an important part of the success of the Sri Lankan team over the years.

The last time both the teams faced each other was during a T20I series in India. Team India easily won the 3-match series (2-0). The first match was abandoned due to heavy rainfall.

In the last match, India had capitalized on individual player battles. It led to their comfortable victory in the series. During a post-match conference, Virat Kohli had acknowledged that it is important to focus on individual matchups. It changes the game for any team if the planning is done properly.

Some of the key player battles in upcoming Sri Lanka vs India series is as follow:

Kusal Perera vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Kusal Perera is an important part of the Sri Lankan middle-order. He has a lot of experience under his belt. So, the best way to tackle him is to play an experienced player against him.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar also has a lot of experience and he could get handed the ball to dismiss Perera. To date, Kumar has bowled 26 deliveries to Perera. Out of the 26 deliveries, Perera has scored just 12 runs and got dismissed once.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has the ability to swing the new ball. So it is not easy to play him. But if he fails to swing the ball, then Perera would snatch the game away from India.

Avishka Fernando vs Yuzvendra Chahal

Right-handed batsman Avishka Fernando usually opens the match for Sri Lanka. He has displayed his ability to score big runs on many occasions. During the 2019 ICC World Cup, he scored a century against the West Indies. He has been a consistent performer for the Sri Lankan team.

Yuzvendra Chahal would play a significant role in dismissing the phenomenal batsman. He would get the responsibility of controlling the run flow in the middle-over and provide some breakthroughs for India.

Nevertheless, Indian spinners are prone to giving away runs in the middle-overs. So Fernando would try to take advantage of that.

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