Devdutt Padikkal, Chetan Sakariya among 20-member Indian squad announced for SL tour
Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya have earned their maiden national team call-up as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the upcoming limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.
The Men in Blue will play three ODIs followed by the same number of T20Is, starting July 13. The other two ODIs will take place on 16th and 18th July while the T20Is will take place on 21st, 23rd, and 25th July. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will host all six games.
Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan will lead the side in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be his deputy.
With all senior cricketers busy with the Test series against England, the Sri Lanka tour will give the youngsters a platform to make a mark and impress the selectors ahead of the T20 World Cup in India.
Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have earned their places with consistent performances in the IPL while Prithvi Shaw's rich vein of form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy followed by IPL 2021 was enough to help him seal a berth in the side.
Chetan Sakariya rewarded with a India call-up for his domestic performance
On the bowling front, Chetan Sakariya was rewarded for his consistent performances on the domestic circuit alongside Deepak Chahar and Navdeep Saini.
Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who has had a difficult time over the last year, will have to fight out for a place in the presence of Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar and Krishnappa Gowtham.
The All India Selection Committee also picked five net bowlers who will travel with the squad to Sri Lanka.
India's squad for Sri Lanka series:
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutti Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Krishnappa Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vc), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh