Ruturaj Gaikwad to open, Ravindra Jadeja returns: India's predicted playing XI for 1st T20I against Sri Lanka

Rohit Sharma-led team India will be looking to continue their winning run when they take on Sri Lanka in the first T20I of the upcoming three-match series in Lucknow on Thursday. India are scheduled to play three T20Is followed by two Tests against the visitors at home. India will be heading into the series on a confident note after clean sweeping West Indies 3-0 in their last T20 assignment.

However, India will be without a number of key players, who were part of the T20I series win against West Indies. While Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant have been rested, the likes of KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar will miss the three-match series against Sri Lanka due to respective injuries.

While a number of stars are set to miss the series, India will have both Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah back in the squad for the three T20Is. While Jadeja is making a comeback after recovering from an injury, Bumrah had been rested from the T20Is against West Indies and is all set to return.

With no Kohli, Rahul and Suryakumar in the squad, India is likely to hand more opportunities to Ruturaj Gaikwad, who can open the batting with skipper Rohit Sharma or Ishan Kishan. Shreyas Iyer can take Kohli's number 3 spot while Deepak Hooda or Sanju Samson can be asked to replace Suryakumar Yadav in the middle-order.

With Jadeja making his comeback, he is likely to bat at no.6 and will have Venkatesh Iyer in the lower-middle order to help him in finishing games. Hooda might not feature in the first game if the team management decides to give both Gaikwad and Samson an extended run to prove their worth.

With no Chahar in the squad, Harshal Patel is likely to feature in all three matches and will comprise the pace attack along with the experienced Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Bhuvneshwar has been impressive in his last few matches and will be hoping to continue his fine form with the ball against Sri Lanka.

Yuzvendra Chahal is likely to play as the lone spinner in the XI in the first T20I and might get rotated with Kuldeep Yadav in the upcoming matches.

India's predicted playing XI for 1st T20I against Sri Lanka:

Rohit Sharma (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Venkatesh Iyer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal