Australia tour of Sri Lanka 2022 – 1st T20I, match preview, predicted lineups

Australia will begin their 2022 tour of Sri Lanka tomorrow in the first T20I of the 3-match series. Both teams will be looking for a win here.

Date & Time : 7th June 2022, 7:00 PM (Local)

Venue : R. Premdasa Stadium, Colombo

Australia were brilliant in the recent tour to Pakistan where they won the Test and T20I series. They also won the 5-match T20I series at home to Sri Lanka earlier this year. They will look to continue the good work before the T20 World Cup at home.

The Aussies are captained by Aaron Finch and they will look to exploit the Asian/Subcontinental conditions well if they are to win. They must play Spin well.

Australia has a good mixture of Pacers in their squad but spinners though less can be effective. The batting looks solid.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka last played a series in Bangladesh which they won 1-0 in Tests but they lost badly in the T20 series in India 0-3 which will be demoralising. But they must look forward to the home series against mighty Australia.

The Lankans will be captained by Dasun Shanaka and they will know the Asian conditions way better than the Aussies and they must use it to their full effect.

Looking at their T20 squad they have good amount of spinners and pacers which spell dangerous for the opponents. The batting is solid as usual.

For the wicket, it is a balanced surface with opportunities for both batsman and bowlers.

Team news and possible lineups

There are no fresh injury concerns for both sides at the moment.

Australia XI : Finch (C), Warner, M. Marsh, Maxwell, Smith, Stoinis, Wade (WK), Agar, Starc, K. Richardson, Hazlewood.

Sri Lanka XI: Gunathilaka, Nissanka, Asalanka, K. Mendis (WK), Rajapaksa, Shanaka (C), Karunaratne, Chameera, Hasaranga, Theekshana, Rajitha.

Prediction

Australia start as favourites and I expect them to take a 1-0 lead.