On Thursday, the Indian selectors named Shikhar Dhawan as India’s stand-in captain for the limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in July, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar appointed as his deputy. The two experienced cricketers are given leadership roles in an inexperienced squad featuring multiple uncapped youngsters.
In the absence of several regular white-ball cricketers, who will be in England at the time, the Chetan Sharma led selection panel has picked up quite a few fresh faces that have performed well at the domestic level and in the Indian Premier League.
Among notable beneficiaries are Karnataka and Maharashtra batsmen Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, respectively, with Saurashtra paceman Chetan Sakariya also joining them on the trip. The three uncapped young talents have performed well for RCB, CSK and RR in the IPL, apart from the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and Vijay Hazare Trophy for their state teams.
Still, very much in their development stage, the Sri Lanka tour gives the selectors an opportunity to see where Padikkal, Gaikwad and Sakariya stand and chart a roadmap to ensure they take the next step with their games.
The squad also sees the return of Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini to the white-ball set-up. Shaw top-scored for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and maintained that form for DC in IPL 2021. And though Saini hasn’t broken the door re-open with his performances, the tall paceman’s talent and promise have perhaps handed him a comeback for this trip, with T Natarajan still recovering from injury.
Manish Pandey is another comeback man in the absence of various first-choice middle-order batsmen. The veteran Karnataka batsman would have the opportunity to strengthen his case again after being left out for alternative options. Manish boasts of an encouraging record as a late-order aggressor despite irregular chances, which is perhaps why he is still in the reckoning.
In the absence of still rehabilitating Shreyas Iyer, the selectors have given a maiden call-up to Nitish Rana, the Delhi and KKR left-hander, who will be eyeing one of the vacant slots in the top 6. With Rishabh Pant not available, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson will be fighting for the wicketkeeper’s slot in either format. Kishan pipped Samson in the pecking order through some impressive batting, including a fifty on T20I debut in Ahmedabad, earlier this year.
From the team that faced England in March, the selectors have retained the likes of Rahul Chahar, Suryakumar Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Deepak Chahar. Rahul Tewatia, however, is a notable absentee as he loses out on his place without any chance to Krishnappa Gowtham in the spin all-rounder’s category, where the selectors have spread the net wider in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja.
The selectors have also named a few net bowlers for the trip, keeping in mind the restrictions in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
India will travel to Sri Lanka early in July and play three ODIs and three T20Is. The ODIs, part of the ICC Super League, will be played on July 13, 16 and 18, followed by the T20Is, included in the build-up to the T20 World Cup, on July 21, 23 and 25, respectively. All matches will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
