Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan will lead the side in India’s tour of Sri Lanka in July and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be the vice-captain. BCCI has called up several domestic performers for the white ball series between India and Sri Lanka. The board has also confirmed that Rahul Dravid will coach the side for the tour of Sri Lanka.
There will be two Indian teams this time; one team led by Virat Kohli for the inaugural World Test Championship (18th June) and also for the test series against England in August. On the contrary, the other team for the tour of Sri Lanka Shikhar Dhawan will lead a team of young and experienced players that weren’t included for the tests in England and for the WTC final.
There have been multiple maiden call-ups for India in the squad. Young Karnataka opener Devdutt Padikkal has been rewarded for his terrific form in domestic cricket. Maharashtra and CSK batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad has also made the cut after delivering consistent performances in IPL 2021.
One of the most surprising additions has been Rajasthan Royals left-arm fast bowler Chetan Sakariya. The young bowler enjoyed an impressive first half of IPL 2021. Krishnappa Gowtham has also been given a chance in the Sri Lankan tour this time and was previously added as a reserve bowler for the four-match home Test series against England. The 32-year-old made the headlines when he was bought by CSK for INR 9.25 crore, becoming the most expensive uncapped player in the history of IPL.
BCCI has also added Spinner Varun Chakravarthy to the squad. He was first called up for the Australian tour but the player picked up an injury. The off-spinner was once again selected in the home T20 series against England but he was dropped as the 29-year-old failed to clear the mandatory fitness test.
Shreyas Iyer and T Natarajan will miss the series as they are still recovering from surgeries. The ODI matches between India and Sri Lanka will begin on July 13 and end on July 18. Meanwhile, the T20 series matches will be on 21st July, 23rd July, and 25th July. Both the series will be played in Colombo.
India squad for the tour of Sri Lanka
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
Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh