"This is unfair" - Fans heart-broken to see Ruturaj Gaikwad miss out 1st T20I vs Sri Lanka due to injury

Following a comprehensive victory against the West Indies last week, Team India will be looking to continue in the same vein when they take on Sri Lanka in the first T20I of the 3-match series today. The Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow will host the contest.

Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss and opted to bowl first. An unfortunate wrist injury ruled Ruturaj Gaikwad out of the game. Team India made six changes to the playing XI that played in the final T20I against West Indies last week.

Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Deepak Hooda come into the side for this contest. Deepak Hooda is making his T20I debut today.

Here are the playing XIs for today's game:

India playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

Sri Lanka playing XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Charith Asalanka, Dinesh Chandimal(w), Janith Liyanage, Dasun Shanaka(c), Chamika Karunaratne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara

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Follow the live match updates here.

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Most fans were disappointed to see Ruturaj Gaikwad miss out on a well-deserved opportunity. They took to Twitter to express the same and sympathized with his tryst of bad luck.

Here are some of the best reactions:

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"We just want to keep ticking the boxes and keep getting it right" - Rohit Sharma

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma revealed that he wants the side to be relentless in their pursuit of improving their game. Speaking at the toss of the first T20I against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma shed some light on the challenges at hand and said:

"We were looking to chase as well. Not really sure about the pitches here these days. The last time we played here was three or four years ago against the West Indies. The pitch played really well, and hopefully, we can get a good score."

He added:

"As far as the team is concerned, it's important to stay on the radar and keep doing the right things that we did against the previous oppositions. We just want to keep ticking the boxes and keep getting it right. It's a new challenge - a lot of new faces but this gives them a great opportunity to come out and express their talent."

Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, and a few other vital batters are missing in this series. The onus will be on Rohit Sharma to shepherd the team's inexperienced batting line-up.