The selection meeting to decide India’s squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka was postponed by a day to Thursday. The players are scheduled to leave for Sri Lanka on July 22, with the tour commencing with a three-match T20I series on July 27, followed by a three-match ODI series. There was significant interest in the squad announcement, particularly regarding the potential announcement of India’s new T20I captain, as Rohit Sharma retired from the format after leading the team to the 2024 T20 World Cup title last month.
The New T20I Captain: Suryakumar Yadav gets the captaincy baton from Rohit Sharma and will lead the India T20I side against Sri Lanka. Suryakumar Yadav, the 2nd ranked batsman in ICC T20 Rankings has gone one step ahead in his career to lead the Indian Team. Initially, Hardik Pandya was the likely replacement for Rohit Sharma as many would have thought but the new Head Coach Gautam Gambhir preferred Suryakumar over Hardik due to the latter’s past injury woes.
India Squad: T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.
ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
This will also mark Gautam Gambhir’s first major decision as the new head coach of the Indian team. Rahul Dravid stepped down from the position after the T20 World Cup, and the BCCI quickly announced Gambhir as his replacement. Initially, seasoned players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah were expected to miss the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka.