Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra issued a warning to the Hardik Pandya-led Indian cricket team ahead of the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, starting on January 3 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Chopra said that Sri Lanka might not have won a T20I series in India and even lost many matches to the Men in Blue, but still the hosts should not be complacent and take the 2022 Asia Cup champions lightly, as they are now a different team and have a number of good performers at their rank.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel: “Sri Lanka are not such an ordinary team. It seems they are ordinary because if you see the previous encounters, they have lost a lot to us, but have won important games. They defeated us in the Asia Cup recently and became the Asia Cup champions.”
He added, “Don't take Sri Lanka lightly. Some players have come after doing extremely well in the Lanka Premier League. They have game time and have come with form. Avishka Fernando is in very good form, he is coming after scoring the most runs in the LPL.”
Sri Lanka defeated India in the Super-4s of the Asia Cup which effectively knocked them out of the tournament. However, while India reached the semi-finals of T20 World Cup 2022, Sri Lanka couldn't go past the Super 12s stage.
Chopra concluded, “You have Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis - so you have three good top-order batters. Towards the end of the LPL, Charith Asalanka also performed well. Bhanuka Rajapaksa doesn't play big knocks but is effective. Dasun Shanaka plays well against India. Dhananjaya de Silva did not have a good LPL but he is a two-dimensional player.”
