[Watch] Ind vs SL 2021: Yuzvendra Chahal's cheeky Nazar amulet smiley for India's debutants in the second T20I
In the end, it was four of India's players making their debuts against Sri Lanka in the second T20I after Krunal Pandya testing positive for COVID-19 and his close contacts isolating forced India to make a string of changes.
The new faces include Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya. Team India's official Instagram page posted an image of all the debutants in with their India caps and replying to the post was Yuzvendra Chahal.
The post was captioned: "Picture perfect 🤩🇮🇳. Presenting our 4️⃣ T20I debutants tonight 👌🏻 #TeamIndia #SLvIND." In response, Chahal wrote an all-smiley response: "🙌👏🧿"
You can view the post here:
India lose top order early in the innings
Despite Shikhar Dhawan (40), Gaikwad (21) and Padikkal (29) getting off to starts, they struggled to spin as India slumped from 1/49 to 4/114 at the time of writing. Sanju Samson faltered yet again and was dismissed for seven.
Much of India's innings depends on their rather meek tail and Rana, who will look to take the team to a competitive score. For the hosts, Akila Dananjaya picked up two wickets in his four overs, while Wanidu Hasaranga and Dasun Shanaka each picked up a wicket.
Squad updates for the second and third T20I
The BCCI has confirmed that eight players who were in close contact with Krunal Pandya will remain unavailable for the series even though they returned with negative RT-PCR tests.
The five net bowlers, Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, R Sai Kishore and Simarjeet Singh, have been added to the main squad for the remaining games in the series.
The BCCI media advisory said:
"Based on the request of the Indian team management in Sri Lanka, the All-India Senior Selection Committee has named additions to India’s squad for the second and third T20Is. The five net bowlers – Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, R Sai Kishore, and Simarjeet Singh - will now be part of the squad for the remaining T20Is."