Top 5 things to expect from the India-Sri Lanka-West Indies Tri-Series

The excitement around India’s Champions Trophy victory will hardly have fizzled out when West Indies and Sri Lanka kick off the triangular series that also involves India on the 28th of June at Sabina Park. The competition should be an exciting one as all the three teams are competitive in the shorter version of the game and enjoyed relative success at the Champions Trophy. West Indies, who will host the tournament, were rather unlucky as they made an early group stage exit from the tournament despite losing just one of their three scheduled games. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, were evicted by eventual champions India in the semi-finals.

India had named an unchanged squad for the competition initially but Irfan Pathan’s hamstring injury forced India to replace him with right-hand seamer Shami Ahmed, who has played 5 ODI’s for India with moderate success. Sri Lanka have their own injury issues to be addressed. T.Dilshan had to be replaced because of the calf injury that forced him to limp off the crease in the semi-final against India whereas, Thisara Perera was dropped after a series of unconvincing performances. Ajantha Mendis has been included in the squad. West Indies have dropped R. Sarwan from the squad that played in the Champions Trophy and Dinesh Ramdin will be back after serving his two-match suspension.

The tri-series promises to be an exciting event. Here is a list of 5 things you look forward to when the two sub-continent giants take on the West Indies:

5. Tight Finishes

Even though India will enter the tournament as favorites, all three teams are well balanced and should give us a competitive tournament. India might look to experiment with their squad and that will bring a bit of instability which their opponents can exploit. The West Indian pitches have tended to be on the slower side in the past few years, which means we will see a lot of slower balls, mid-way totals and nerve-wracking chases. The series comes immediately after the Champions Trophy so narrow finishes will be required to grab the eyeballs.