Dhawan to lead India for the first time on Sri Lanka tour

Saturday, 12 June 2021 00:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Captain Shikhar Dhawan

Vice-Captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar

India’s powerful opening bat Shikhar Dhawan who has never led his country before will lead a 20-man team for the white ball series in Sri Lanka starting next month. Dhawan’s deputy will be fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

With several white-ball regulars away with the Test squad in England at the same time, the BCCI has rewarded several domestic performers with an India call-up, namely Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, Krishnappa Gowtham and Chetan Sakariya all of whom have received maiden call-ups.

India has also named five net bowlers in the squad which will have former Indian captain Rahul Dravid as the head coach for the tour.

It comes as no surprise that four of the five uncapped players with the exception of 32-year-old Gowtham made strong claims for selection on the strength of their individual contributions in the last two IPL seasons.

Padikkal and Gaikwad have been successful as openers while Rana has been a regular in the top order and pacer Sakariya made an impressive start in the truncated 2021 edition of IPL.

Apart from the newcomers the side carries a lot of experience in the form of Dhawan and Kumar, the Pandya brothers Hardik and Krunal, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav.

India’s tour to Sri Lanka after a lapse of three years consists of 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is – all night matches which will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium under a bio-secure environment.

India last toured Sri Lanka for the tri-nation Nidahas Trophy tournament in March 2018.

“I am confident this series is going to attract the attention of the cricketing world, as both teams, which have excelled in the shorter formats of the game, plays an exciting brand of cricket, thus bringing joy to the fans,” said Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva.

The contest is also going to play a vital part in the Sri Lanka team’s ongoing preparations for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place later this year.

India’s White Ball Squad: 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, Krishnappa 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.

Tour schedule

28 June: Arrival

29 June-1 July: Room Quarantine

2-4 July: Quarantine/Practice

5-12 July: Practice/Rest

13 July: 1st ODI at R Premadasa Stadium (d/n)

16 July: 2nd ODI at R Premadasa Stadium (d/n)

18 July: 3rd ODI at R Premadasa Stadium (d/n)

21 July: 1st T20I at R Premadasa Stadium (night)

23 July: 2nd T20I at R Premadasa Stadium (night)

25 July: 3rd T20I at R Premadasa Stadium (night)

26 July: Team departs