India To Play Three Match ODI Series Against Sri Lanka In July
Many casual cricket fans are not aware that India is set to play a three-match ODI and three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka in July. This is because the main Indian cricket team led by captain Virat Kohli is currently in England.
In early June, Team India travelled to the UK to prepare for the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, which they played and lost to New Zealand. The Indian team has stayed back in the UK as they are set to commence a long and gruelling tour of England, starting with 5 test matches beginning in August 2021.
India Tour Of Sri Lanka
The BCCI has scheduled a short tour of Sri Lanka in July, which involves an ODI and T20 series. This week, we will only focus on the three-match ODI series, and next week, we will take a close look at the T20 series.
With the main team in England preparing for a long series ahead, the BCCI was forced to put together an ‘A’ team to tour Sri Lanka. However, several big-name players are on this tour, making it a nice blend of youth and experience. The Indian team is already in Sri Lanka and is going through their 14 day period of quarantine.
All three ODI games will take place at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo, and Sri Lanka will definitely have the home advantage. As of now, it appears that no fans will be allowed to enter the stadium for all three games in light of the COVID-19 situation in the country.
S Dhawan To Lead Team India
With no Virat Kohli and R Sharma in the side, the BCCI has decided to give veteran opening batsman S Dhawan the captaincy for this tour. There is no indication of who will be the vice-captain for this tour, but there are a couple of experienced players on tour who can take up the responsibility.
Some of the experienced players that the BCCI has included for this tour include B Kumar, M Pandey, and the Pandya brothers. We expect the selectors to chop and change a bit as they test out some of the young players during the ODI and T20 series.
We think the playing XI for the first ODI will more or less look like this. S Dhawan, P Shaw, I Kishan, S Yadav, M Pandey, H Pandya, S Samson, K Pandya, B Kumar, V Chakravarthy, and D Chahar.
Sri Lanka – Short On Confidence
Even though Sri Lanka is playing India at home and is taking on an India A team, it will be a tough series for the Sri Lankan lions. This is because Sri Lanka is currently playing England in England and will not have time to adjust from English conditions to sub-continent conditions.
Sri Lanka will also be short on confidence as they have lost the ODI series against England and have played rather poorly. Their bowlers have been treated with disdain, and most of their top order has struggled for runs which is why they have performed so poorly.
K Perera is expected to lead the ODI squad against India, and he will have to take the lead by scoring more runs. If India manages to win the first ODI, it could go downhill for the Lankans in no time as they don’t have any momentum behind them going into this series.
Sri Lankan cricket has struggled a lot since veterans M Jayawardene and K Sangakkara have retired. They did well for a bit when Angelo Matthews was captaining the side, but politics in and outside the team caused Sri Lanka cricket to plunge to new lows.
India vs. Sri Lanka – Multiple Bets On Offer
This is why India will start as betting favorites against Sri Lanka in the ODI series. Our experts predict that India will win the series and is likely to win with a 3-0 scoreline. Apart from betting on an outright result, do note that many betting sites have multiple betting options available.
Some of the bets that you will be able to wager on during India vs. Sri Lanka ODI series include who will win the toss, who will score the most number of runs, who will take the most number of wickets, will there be a hat-trick, who will win the man of the man award and who will finish as the player of the series.
