India’s young cricket players will clash with Sri Lanka in the first of three ODIs and three T20s on Sunday, July 18.
Three ODIs will now be played on July 18, 20, and 23. While the three T20s will go ahead on July 25, 27, and 29.
Shikhar Dhawan has been named as the captain for the Sri Lanka tour in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who both are in the UK for the upcoming five-match Test series against England. The first ODI against Sri Lanka scheduled on Sunday will be a big test for Shikhar Dhawan as a captain.
Dhawan will also be on the cusp of achieving a huge milestone in the 1st ODI, and if he manages to do so, he will surpass former India cricketer Sourav Ganguly to reach an impressive landmark.
Dhawan currently has 5,977 runs in the ODIs. If he manages to score 23 runs, he would reach the 6,000-run mark, becoming only the 10th Indian batsman to reach the milestone.
Sri Lanka’s limited-overs tour, comprising three ODIs and as many T20Is, will begin on Sunday, July 18 in Colombo. “It is a big achievement for me that I have become the captain of the Indian side. As a leader, my idea is to keep everyone together and happy—that is the most important thing,” Dhawan said on the Star Sports show, Follow the Blues.
“We have got a lovely bunch of boys, great support staff, and we have worked [together] earlier as well,” Dhawan said he shares good chemistry with legendary Rahul Dravid, who is the head coach for the series.
Coach Rahul Dravid has to decide who will be the opening batsman with Dhawan, and the main choice appears to be Prithvi Shaw.
Bowling
Pacer and vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead India’s bowling attack.
Other likely pace bowlers in the squad are Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, and Chetan Sakariya.
Four of the bowlers in the team are spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy. Among them, Chahal and Chahar might bowl on Sunday.
Possible Playing XI
Shikhar Dhawan (Captain)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-Captain)
Prithvi Shaw
Suryakumar Yadav
Manish Pandey
Hardik Pandya
Krunal Pandya
Sanju Samson
Deepak Chahar
Navdeep Saini or Rahul Chahar
Yuzvendra Chahal
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devdutt Padikkal are likely to sit it out on Sunday.
(With inputs from agencies)
A global media for the latest news, entertainment, music fashion, and more.