Sri Lanka will host India and Bangladesh for a tri-nation T20I series. The tournament will start from March 6, 2018 with the final scheduled for March 18. The teams will battle each other across 11 days in six league matches to make the cut for the summit clash for the Nidahas Trophy 2018. All matches will be held at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

2018 Nidahas Trophy Twenty20 tri-series: Live telecast, match timings, schedule

To celebrate Sri Lanka’s 70th year of Independence, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Board hosts a tri-nation T20I series involving India and Bangladesh. The tournament comprising seven games and it kick starts with the curtain raiser between Sri Lanka against India on March 6. The Nidahas Trophy played in 1998 to celebrate the country’s golden jubilee of independence was between India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Now, the same Nidahas Trophy returns to frame to celebrate country’s 70th independence.

With limited-overs’ cricket, especially in overseas conditions, the Indian team will get to strengthen its squad’s core for the 2019 World Cup and fix up certain loopholes.

Format:

The tournament will follow a round-robin format with all the three teams playing each other twice before the top two (on the basis of points) lock horns in the final on March 18. While Bangladesh are scheduled to play a warm-up game ahead of the tournament, India would begin the competition without any practice match, just like the recently concluded South Africa tour.

Schedule:

All the matches of the series have been scheduled with a gap of one day, with the opening encounter taking place between hosts Sri Lanka and India on March 6. Both the visiting teams will arrive in the island on March 4. Here’s the full schedule:

March 6, 19:00 IST: Sri Lanka vs India

March 8, 19:00 IST: Bangladesh vs India

March 10, 19:00 IST: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh

March 12, 19:00 IST: India vs Sri Lanka

March 14, 19:00 IST: India vs Bangladesh

March 16, 19:00 IST: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka

March 18, 19:00 IST: Final

Telecast and Live Streaming:

The live telecast of the 2018 Nidahas Trophy will be available on DD Sports, DSport and Rishtey Cineplex in India. While DSport will provide commentary in English, Rishtey Cineplex/HD will provide Hindi commentary. Those who want to watch the series online, can visit DSport’s official website or Jio TV live app. Here are the worldwide broadcast details:

India: DSport, DD Sports

Bangladesh: Gazi TV (GTV)

Sri Lanka: SLRC

South Africa: SuperSport

USA: Willow TV

UK: Sky Sports

Canada: ATN Cricket Plus HD

MENA: OSN Sports Cricket HD

Squads:

The big guns including Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have been rested from the series while some younger ones like Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar and Mohammad Siraj have been given an opportunity by the BCCI. For India, Suresh Raina has continued to hold on to his place, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya have all been rested. Kuldeep Yadav, on the other hand, misses out because of an injury.

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj and Rishabh Pant.

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Janith Perera, Thisara Perera, Jeewan Mendis, Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Amila Aponso, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera and Dananjaya De Silva.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Abu Jayed, Taskin Ahmed, Imrul Kayes, Nurul Hasan, Mehidy Hasan, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Islam and Abu Hider Rony.

Tags: Bangladesh, Format, India, Live Streaming, Nidahas Trophy 2018, Schedule, Squads, Sri Lanka, Telecast