Hindustan Times : Jan 04, 2020, 12:08 PM
India skipper Virat Kohli will be on the verge of achieving massive T20I world record when ‘Men in Blue’ take on Sri Lanka in the 1st T20I in Guwahati on Sunday. The right-handed batsman needs just one more run to surpass fellow teammate Rohit Sharma and become the highest run-scorer in the shortest format. Currently, Kohli is tied with Rohit on the top spot with both the players having 2,633 runs.Rohit, who has been rested from the T20I series, will not be a part of the team, which means Kohli can easily surpass him and extend the gap to cement his position at the top of the list.Kohli was in excellent form during the T20I series against West Indies last month. The skipper smashed 94 runs in 50 balls in the first T20I to help his side chase down the mammoth total of 208. In the 3rd T20I, he smashed an unbeaten 70 in 29 balls and took India’s total to 240/3 in 20 overs, and thus helping his side in picking up an easy win. Kohli will be eager to continue in the same vein of form in the shortest format against Sri Lanka, especially to boost his confidence before the T20I World Cup later this year.India are entering the contest after consecutive T20I series wins over Bangladesh and West Indies, respectively. The Kohli-led side will be hoping to deliver a similar performance against Sri Lanka, since it is a familiar opposition. India already hold a successful record in T20Is against Sri Lanka, and they will be eager to preserve the stat.India (won: 5; drawn: 1) have never lost a bilateral T20I series against Sri Lanka and that is bound to set the alarm bells ringing in the opposition camp. They are also on a five-match winning run against Sri Lanka with the visitors’ last T20I victory coming way back in 2016 (Pune).Squads:India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson.Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (c), Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya De Silva, Isuru Udana, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Mendis, Lakshan Sandakan, Kasun Rajitha