New Delhi: The Indian team has been announced for the three T20 and two Test series against Sri Lanka. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Chetan Sharma announced the squad. During this, Rohit Sharma has been announced as the new captain of the Indian Test team. He will be India’s 35th captain in Tests. Chetan Sharma said- KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah will be ready as the next Test captains while playing under Rohit’s captaincy.
Any one of these three will lead India in future. Rohit’s focus is more on T20 and ODI World Cup. Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant have been rested for the third T20I against West Indies and the entire T20I series against Sri Lanka. Shardul has been rested for the T20 and Test series against Sri Lanka. Uttar Pradesh’s left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar has been included in the Indian Test team for the first time. He went to South Africa as a standby.
Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have been dropped from the Test squad. Chetan Sharma said at the time of the team announcement that both have been ruled out of the Test series against Sri Lanka only. They are playing Ranji Trophy. It is a good thing that two big players of India are playing in Ranji. Opener batsman KL Rahul, who captained the Indian Test team in South Africa, and all-rounder Washington Sundar have been ruled out of the T20 and Test series against Sri Lanka for being unfit.
In place of Rahul, Bumrah will be the vice-captain of Team India in the Test and T20 series. T20 Team: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Rituraj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah (Vice-Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Avesh Khan. *Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, KS Bharat, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah ( Vice Captain), Mohammed Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Saurabh Kumar.
Significantly, Sri Lankan team will play three T20 and two Test matches on the tour of India. The first T20 match will be played in Lucknow on 24 February. After this, two T20 matches will be played in Dharamsala on 26 and 27 February. The Test series will begin in Mohali. The first match will be played from March 4 to March 8. After this, the second and final Test will be held in Bengaluru from March 12 to 16.