India have called upon yet another debutant of the T20 series decider against Sri Lanka and replaced Navdeep Saini, who did not get to bowl a single over in the last game with Sandeep Warrier, a pacer from Kerala.
Warrier plays for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League and is rated highly for the extra bounce he extracts off the surface.
Saini had injured his hand while fielding at the cover position in the death overs of Sri Lanka’s chasing efforts.
This will be the first occasion for Warrier at the international level and he was travelling with the squad just as net bowlers.
India skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and elected to bat first in the final game of the tour. The decision could well have been taken in the dressing room looking at the nature of the pitch in the last game where balls were holding up in the surface and spinners were turning the ball from good parts of the surface.
The series is level at 1-1 and the onus will be on India to win the game and the series as they had come on the tour with big promises and flamboyance. However, to be fair to them, the Covid-19 crisis in the camp that ruled as many as nine players out of the last two games of the series depleted their chances massively.