Dasun Shanaka
Dasun Shanaka. Image-Twitter

Newly-appointed Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka said that both India and Sri Lanka start the series as evens. He underlined young Indian players have no or little experience in international cricket.

The Indian team, to be captained by Shikhar Dhawan, is a second-string squad as several first-choice players are in England for the Test matches. There are six uncapped players in the squad, however, their IPL experience has to be taken into account.

Devdutt Padikkal
Devdutt Padikkal is given his maiden India call-up. (Image Credit: Twitter)

Dasun Shanaka, who has prior experience of captaining the side when he led them to a T20I series win in Pakistan, reckons playing against India will help them assess themselves going forward.

“Both teams will start evenly because they (India) have got new players coming up. We all know that they have played IPL but still they haven’t played international cricket, so both the teams have even chances,” Dasun Shanaka said on the eve of the first ODI.

“The experience will be very good, you know playing against one of the top teams in the world, so it will be a very good to play with India at this point, because we can exactly measure the levels we are in, so it will be a good tournament for us,” he added.

Sri Lanka have a slight advantage: Dasun Shanaka

Sri Lanka themselves are short on experience too. Former captain Kusal Perera has been ruled out of the ODI and T20Is, and pacer Binura Fernando from the ODI – both due to injuries. While Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Mendis, and Danushka Gunathilaka are serving their suspension for their bio-bubble breach in England.

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They have added uncapped Lahiru Udara, Shiran Fernando, and Ishan Jayaratne; Dhananjaya Lakshan and Praveen Jayawickrama, both of whom have played just one ODI so far; while Lahiru Kumara returns after a lengthy layoff.

Sri Lanka Team, Sri Lanka vs India 2021
Sri Lanka Team (Image Credit: Twitter)

Dasun Shanaka believes that the hosts have a small advantage that the Indian players haven’t seen their newcomers who can surprise the visitors.

“Yes, a slight advantage because they (India) haven’t seen these guys in international cricket, as well, so yes, I feel they have to prepare well for these newcomers as well,” the skipper stated.

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