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India wrapped up the three-match Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka over the weekend with two relatively comfortable victories giving the new world champions an unassailable 2-0 lead.
DATE/TIME: Tuesday 30th July, 2024 – UK – 2:30pm / INDIA – 7:00pm / US EST – 9:30am / US PST – 7:30am
VENUE: Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka
WEATHER: 27c or 80.6 F with clear skies but showers expected earlier in the day
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports / INDIA – Sony Sport / US – Willow TV
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – SkyGo / INDIA – Sony LIV app / US – Willow TV
SRI LANKA FORM: POOR START TO THE NEW ERA
Following the departure of coach Chris Silverwood after a group stage exit at the ICC T20 World Cup last month, Sri Lanka have failed to look overly threatening with bat or ball against the Indians. Only two players have half-centuries in their two games so far with only one bowler taking more than two wickets in the two matches thus far.
LAST FIVE: LLWAL
INDIA FORM: NEW PLAYERS, SAME INDIA
In Gautam Gambhir’s first series as India’s new head coach, India, captained by Suryakumar Yadav, have seen off the Sri Lankans with relative ease in their two matches after a heavily rotated and much changed squad defeated Zimbabwe 2-1 earlier this month. They have been phenomenal with the bat, hitting 213-7 in the first T20I before racing to 81-3 in just 6.3 overs in the rain-affected second match.
LAST FIVE: WWWWW
SRI LANKA BETTING ANALYSIS
As mentioned, only two Sri Lankans have gone past the 50 mark in this series with those two players predictably being Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera. Nissanka, though, has been the more convincing of the pair with 32 off 24 balls to back up his 79 from the opening game. The opening bat to once again be their top scorer in the match remains a solid bet.
With the ball, as also mentioned, only one bowler has taken more than two wickets with Matheesha Pathirana taking 1-18 in 1.3 overs on Sunday after a four-fer in the opener. Wanindu Hasaranga has continued to be relatively ineffective after a poor World Cup and Lanka Premier League campaign so if anyone is to take two or more wickets in the match for the hosts it is likely to be Pathirana.
INDIA BETTING ANALYSIS
Despite both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring from the format, India’s top order is simply magnificent. Yashasvi Jaiswal is partnered with Sanju Samson, who was out for a golden duck the other day, then new skipper Suryakumar Yadav comes in at first drop before the engine room of Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant. With Yadav now able to face a lot more balls in the match, he is always a good bet to score at least 30 runs.
In the bowling department, Arshdeep Singh picked up where he left off after an impressive World Cup and took 2-24 off three overs in the second T20, those wickets being that of Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka. With the Sri Lankans finding pace trickier to handle so far, Singh to take another two or more wickets looks good value.
SRI LANKA VS INDIA EXPERT PREDICTION
Sri Lanka do have some really talented players throughout their top order but there are too many players that do not look in the best nick at the moment, most notably the aforementioned Kusal Mendis and Asalanka. India, even if they wanted to make some changes for what is effectively a dead rubber, have some extraordinary depth in all departments and another comfortable Indian victory is to be expected at Pallekele.
SRI LANKA VS INDIA TIP: INDIA TO WIN
