India’s bid to rebuild the nucleus of their T20 team following the World Cup debacle in the UAE is moving in the right direction. After clean sweeps against New Zealand and West Indies, they won convincingly versus Sri Lanka in the opener in Lucknow.

India have now won 10 T20Is on the trot. The record for the most successive T20I wins is held jointly by Afghanistan and Romania with 12 wins. It is not Sri Lanka’s might that will worry the Indians ahead of the second T20I in Dharamsala on Saturday but the weather, which could play spoilsport.

The 62-run win margin in Lucknow came when their four frontline bowlers — Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal — didn’t have to complete their quotas. Venkatesh Iyer and Deepak Hooda were tried for three overs each.

The most encouraging aspect has been the return to form of Bhuvneshwar, who can be handy in all conditions. With Ravindra Jadeja also making a comeback, the bowling options look covered.

The batting prospered with the top three making most of the opportunities. Ishan Kishan set the tone with a 56-ball 89 while Rohit Sharma (44) and Shreyas Iyer (57 not out) also made useful contributions.

Sri Lanka were dealt another blow on Friday with mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana and batter Kusal Mendis been ruled out of the T20I series with their hamstring injuries.

(Match starts: 7pm, live on Star Sports Network)