India takes on Sri Lanka in the three match series starting on 26th July. The first test starts on 26th July at Galle International Stadium.
Last time, India came to Sri Lanka they defeated Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka by 2-1 to win after a gap of 22 years. Sri Lanka
Gautam Gambhir feels if Sri Lanka has to compete against the strong Indian line up, they have to prepare suitable pitches. It would be a big ask for the Sri Lankan team to defeat the top ranked test team in the world at the present moment.
Sri Lanka is currently the number 7th ranked team in the world. They were pushed to the corner but successfully chased down 388 in the fourth innings against Zimbabwe.
“Obviously, India starts as favorites because they are the world number 1 and Sri Lanka, the way they have played, they don’t have the bowling attack to trouble India. The only way Sri Lanka can trouble India is to prepare wickets which work for their bowlers,” Gautam Gambhir told PTI during an interaction.
India has been in excellent form during the recent past being runners up during the Champions Trophy 2017 losing to arch-rivals Pakistan. After that, they went to West Indies for a 5 match ODI series which Men in Blue won by 3-1. India lost the lone T20 match by 9 wickets to conclude the series.
Playing against a strong line up like India will be a tough challenge for the Sri Lankan team. The Sri Lankan team will be led by experienced Hearth as Chandimal has been ruled out due to health issues. Sri Lanka needs to play extraordinary cricket if they have to challenge the Indian team.
The Sri Lankan team have good batting line up in the form of Mathews, Gunaranthe, Tharanga and few other young batsmen who could trouble the Indian team. Sri Lanka has been struggling in the recent months losing the ODI series to minnows Zimbabwe by 2-3 in their home den.
India has top quality batsmen in form of Rahane, Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Dhawan, Saha, KL Rahul. While in the bowling department, their pace bowling department comprises of Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and 3 top quality spinners who can trouble the inexperienced Sri Lankan batting line up.
