Sri Lanka unchanged for Afghan T20I opener

Colombo, Feb 16 (Daily Mirror) - Riding a wave of confidence after their convincing One Day International (ODI) series win in Kandy, Sri Lanka gears up to face Afghanistan in a three-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series starting at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium today.

Sri Lanka is likely to retain the same line-up that played in the last T20I game against Zimbabwe, except for the injured Dushmantha Chameera, Daily Mirror learns.

Sri Lanka have brought in left-arm fast bowler Binura Fernando in place of Chameera for this series against Afghanistan.

The 16-member squad is otherwise unchanged from the one that faced Zimbabwe last month. Wanindu Hasaranga will lead the side with Charith Asalanka serving as his deputy.

Despite Binura Fernando being included in the Sri Lanka T20I Squad in place of Dushmantha, Matheesha Pathirana is likely to be included in the playing 11, according to SLC sources.

However, the sources said that the captain and the selectors of Sri Lanka Cricket will decide the playing 11, analyzing the conditions of the pitch.

The Sri Lanka Squad has plenty of all-rounders including Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Hasaranga, and Kamindu Mendis.

The seam bowling unit includes Binura Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka, Nuwan Thushara, and Matheesha Pathirana.

The batting unit, though, takes on a familiar flavour, with Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka all included in the squad.

Afghanistan, despite suffering an ODI series defeat, will be looking to bounce back in the T20Is. Ibrahim Zadran will continue to lead the side in the absence of regular T20I Skipper Rashid Khan, who is in the process of recovering from back surgery.