The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India Men’s squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series and three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Shikhar Dhawan will lead in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who are on the tour of England with the Test team. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named vice-captain. The squad has several new faces in middle-order batsman Nitish Rana, all-rounder K Gowtham, opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad and fast bowler Chetan Sakariya among others. Devdutt Padikkal, another opening batsman, also features in the squad even as Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, and Simarjeet Singh have been named as net bowlers.
India Squad:
Shikhar Dhawan (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (VC), P Shaw, D Padikkal, R Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, M Pandey, H Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (WK), S Samson (WK), Y Chahal, R Chahar, K Gowtham, K Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, V Chakravarthy, D Chahar, N Saini, C Sakariya
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 10, 2021
BCCI also confirmed the schedule for the upcoming series with all matches set to be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The ODIs will be played on July 13, 16 and 18 followed by the T20Is on July 21, 23 and 25.
The squad picked for the tour has several regular players missing as the Indian Test team is on a tour of England to play the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand starting June 18 in Southampton.
The WTC final will be followed by a five-match Test series against England starting August 4.
Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, who made impressive starts to their India careers in the limited-overs series against England in March have been named for the Sri Lanka tour as well.
Seasoned pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the fast bowling attack comprising Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini and newcomer Sakariya.
Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar and Kuldeep Yadav are front-line spinners while Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and K Gowtham slot in as all-rounders.
Promoted
Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan are the two wicket-keepers named in the squad.
Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vc), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.
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