Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar feels he would be surprised if the depleted Sri Lankan team even gets one win against the talented Indian team. The Indian team has a lot of youngsters on the current tour of Sri Lanka but they have impressed while playing in the IPL as well as the domestic circuit.
Thus, it would not be a big surprise if these talented players take International cricket like a duck to water. The players have a lot of skills under their belt and they will look to hit the ground running.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s captain Dasun Shanaka believes it will be an even contest between the two teams as the Indian players don’t have enough international experience under their bag though they have played a good amount of IPL matches.
“In Shikhar Dhawan and Hardik Pandya, India has two game-changers with experience. I like the fact that the selectors have not been completely influenced by the IPL in their selection. Kuldeep and Manish Pandey get another chance to show that they still have enough for Indian cricket to stay invested in them. I will be surprised if Sri Lanka puts one over this Indian team,” Sanjay Manjrekar wrote in his column.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga made a remark that it is insulting for Sri Lanka to play against a second-string Indian team. However, Manjrekar added that this is not a second-string Indian side as there is enough quality there.
“This is not a second-string Indian team. India’s Test team is in England and in Sri Lanka we have the Indian T20 team. Barring only a few players, this is India’s full-strength T20 team. A second-string team is when an entirely different squad is put up by a country in the same format. I would like to think that India’s T20 cricket is in fine shape,” Sanjay Manjrekar concluded.
