India Tour of Sri Lanka squad: A second-string yet strong Team India will tour Sri Lanka for a 3-match ODI and 3-match T20I series in July after the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) was suspended. With Head Coach Ravi Shastri with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane for England series, NCA chief Rahul Dravid will don the coach’s hat in Sri Lanka along with his NCA coaches. As for the captaincy, either Shikhar Dhawan or Bhuvneshwar Kumar, two senior campaigners, will lead the side in the series.
The India Tour of Sri Lanka squad will contain mostly white-ball specialists such as Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly confirmed in an interview recently.
India Tour of Sri Lanka squad: The Sri Lanka tour was scheduled after the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) was suspended midway through the season due to rising COVID-19 cases inside IPL’s bio-bubbles. But to honour FTP (Future Tours Programme), commitments, the BCCI went ahead with Sri Lanka tour with its second-string white-ball specialists playing the series. During the time, India will play England for a five-match Test series in England.
A BCCI office-bearer told Cricbuzz that Rahul Dravid becoming the head coach during the Sri Lanka Tour of India is certainly a possibility. Although, an official announcement hasn’t been made in this regard. Rahul Dravid will have NCA staff as coaches accompanying him on the tour.
India Tour of Sri Lanka squad: With the first team in England for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand and a five-match Test series against England, India will miss the services of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma while also missing out on KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, who play all three formats.
Instead, the likes of Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav will be travel to Sri Lanka. Furthermore, it will be a chance to test Prithvi Shaw again while giving a chance to Devdutt Padikkal after impressing in the Indian Premier League. Manish Pandey could also be called back for the series and it will be potentially his last chance to shine in India’s middle-order. As for the bowlers, India will still have a strong attack led by Bhuvneshwar. He will have the support of Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini among others.
India Tour of Sri Lanka squad: Probable squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Shreyas Iyer.
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