Shikhar Dhawan to lead India as BCCI announce 20-man squad for Sri Lanka tour
In the latest development, the Board of Control for Cricket in India have announced the 20-member squad for the Sri Lanka tour. Earlier, there were talks that either Shikhar Dhawan or Hardik Pandya would lead the team from the front. Both the stalwarts were the frontrunners for the captaincy post.
However, as it happened, Dhawan will lead the team for the Sri Lanka tour with Bhuvneshwar Kumar appointed as vice-captain. The BCCI confirmed the development on their official website on Thursday. Meanwhile, India and Sri Lanka will play 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is in the series.
Former Indian legendary cricketer Rahul Dravid is expected to be the coach of the team, although the BCCI hasn’t finalised it officially. The ODIs will be played on July 13, July 16 and July 18 respectively while the T20Is will be played on July 21, 23 and 25.
It is to be noted that matches will be played at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Colombo. India will arrive in Sri Lanka on June 28. With the main team currently in England for the ICC World Test Championship final including the 5-match series against England, India have plenty of fresh faces.
Youngsters who performed well in IPL got maiden call-ups
Talking about the team selection, the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya got first-time call-ups. All the three youngsters were really impressive in IPL 2021 before the tournament was suspended.
Meanwhile, Krishnappa Gowtham was also picked. The likes of Prithvi Shaw, Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson are back in the mix. Varun Chakravarthy who had fitness issues earlier has now been picked.
BCCI announced the 20-member squad for the Sri Lanka tour:
Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
