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Formidable India eye whitewash against Sri Lanka

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December 23, 2017

With the series already in their pocket, India will look to give some of the bench players a chance but there will be no let-up in the intensity as they eye a complete whitewash against Sri Lanka in the third and final T20I in Mumbai on Sunday.

 For the islanders, it has been a forgetful year, and the two recent defeats against India have just added to their misery.

While the hosts thrashed Sri Lanka by 93 runs in the first match at Cuttack, they outclassed them by 88 runs in Indore to seal the series. The visitors also lost the ODIs 1-2 and drew a blank in the Test series held earlier.

On the other hand, India have been cruising across all formats and would surely look to end a successful year with another thumping win ahead of a tough tour of South Africa where they play three Tests, six ODIs and three T20s.

The constant one-sided results may not be an ideal preparation for India for the upcoming tour, but the positive thing is that in absence of seniors including inspirational captain Virat Kohli, the youngsters have taken responsibility and delivered in the T20s and ODIs.

Stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma, who equalled David Miller’s record of the fastest ever T20 century during his 43-ball 118-run innings in Indore, is in peak form and he would love to continue his good run at his home ground.

Be it K L Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey or the experienced campaigner Mahendra Singh Dhoni — all have chipped in when needed and coach Ravi Shastri would expect them to fire big time on Sunday.

Especially Rahul, who already has two fifties to his credit, would surely want to add one more to his kitty and make a strong statement before the team’s upcoming tour.

Iyer, the local boy, scored in the opening game, but he needs to stay at the wicket and convert his starts to big knocks.(Agencies)

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