Murali Vijay out of Sri Lanka tour; Shikhar Dhawan named replacement

Indian opening batsman Murali Vijay has been ruled out of the Indian squad for the Sri Lanka tour which begins on July 26.

Left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan has been roped in the replacement in the squad.

"The All-India Senior Selection Committee on Monday named Shikhar Dhawan as the replacement for injured Murali Vijay in the Test team, which is scheduled to travel to Sri Lanka for a three-match Test series," the BCCI informed in a media release.

Murali Vijay suffered a wrist injury during the Australia series and hence did not take part in the Indian Premier League which followed the series.

He complained of pain during a preparatory camp and thus the BCCI asked him to carry on his rehabilitation programme.

Dhawan has been in sparkling form for India in the limited overs version and emerged as the leading run scorer in the just-concluded Champions Trophy. He carried his form to West Indies where he looked in good touch in all the matches.

He was shunted out of the Indian squad after the series against New Zealand owing to a run of poor scores. This opportunity could not have come at a better time for the southpaw after he returned to form in the IPL which prompted his inclusion in India's Champions Trophy.

In the IPL he scored 479 runs in 14 matches at an average of 36.44. He has made few tweaks to his technique as now he tends to play a touch late which could be useful against the red ball.

India are scheduled to play 3 Test matches, 5 One Day Internationals and 1 T20 against Sri Lanka.

They will travel to the island nation under the newly appointed coach Ravi Shastri.

India Squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice captain), Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, W Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, M Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.