Shastri wants to try all combitions before World T20

Ranchi, Feb 11: Ahead of the second Twenty20 Intertiol (T20I) against Sri Lanka, India team director Ravi Shastri on Thursday said he is aiming at trying all possible combitions to get the best squad prior to the forthcoming World T20 at home next month.

Having whitewashed Australia 3-0 in their own backyard, the Indians were expected to do well at home against the Lankans as they prepare to host the World T20 in March-April. But the youthful Sri Lankan team handed them a rude wake-up call as the island tion defeated India by five wickets in the first match.

"The ideal scerio would be to give most of the guys who are part of the World Cup squad a run. That will be the endeavour, but you will have to see what the conditions are, what the state of the series is and accordingly decide," Shastri said at the pre-match press conference here.

The green pitch in the first T20I at Pune saw the hosts struggle against some quality pace bowling by the Lankans. Debutant pacer Kasun Rajitha proved to be the surprise package, troubling the Indian batsmen with pace, swing and appreciable movement off the pitch to end up with three top order wickets.

The 22-year-old enjoyed a memorable debut, bagging two wickets in his very first over in intertiol cricket. The other Lankan pacers including Dasun Shaka and Dushmantha Chameera also made merry on the green wicket.

"If the pitch is good we say it's good. If the pitch does a lot we will say, it does a lot. Why should we be scared of saying what we feel? It's very clear that it did a little too much but we should have adapted well," Shastri said.

"No excuses for losing the match, but we should have scored 140. It would have been a good competitive score on that surface," the former India skipper said.IANS