Sri Lanka and Australia gear up to face off in the first T20I of the five-match series in Sydney this afternoon.
Sri Lanka will be looking to build on their impressive showing during the T20 World Cup last year.
They couldn’t make it to the semi-finals but they delivered some brilliant performances.
The squad is shaping up nicely with the likes of Charith Asalanka and Pathum Nissanka becoming mainstays in the top three.
Danushka Gunathilaka is all set to return to the top of the order as his ban has ended now.
Sri Lanka’s main strength is their spin bowling attack led by Wanindu Hasaranga.
Maheesh Theekshana has also emerged as an excellent supporting spinner to Hasaranga and the duo is expected to cause a lot of trouble to the Australian batters.
The pace attack is also talented with Dushmantha Chameera expected to lead.
Meanwhile for Australia this is going to be Australia’s first match in the post-Justin Langer era and under interim coach Andrew McDonald.
Preparations will be in full swing as Australia look all set to test their bench strength in this series. The likes of David Warner and Mitchell Marsh have been rested.
Travis Head is also unavailable for the first three T20Is and that provides a good opportunity to Ben McDermott and Josh Inglis to show their potential.
The rest of the XI is expected to be pretty much similar with Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis forming the middle-order.
Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are expected to form the pace-bowling trio again, with Adam Zampa as the sole spinner.
Sri Lank and Australia’s last encounter was during the group stages of the T20 World Cup last year.
Sri Lanka posted a total of 154/6 after being put into bat but Australia chased it down easily with seven wickets and 18 balls remaining.
Today’s game gets underway at 1:30pm Sri Lanka time.
