India flexed the depth of their bench strength as the senior selection committee announced a 20-member limited-overs squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in July. Shikhar Dhawan has been put at the helm of the second-string roster which has no dearth of fresh faces with Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Chetan Sakariya, Nitish Rana and Krishnappa Gowtham receiving their maiden call-ups.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named Dhawan’s deputy for the white ball expedition that comprises three ODIs and T20s apiece at the R Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo.
The sporting fandom on Twitter couldn’t contain their excitement as a flurry of congratulatory messages washed over the micro-blogging platform. Netizens were particularly pleased with Dhawan’s upgrade to captaincy, reckoning that the southpaw has earned his stripes with his consistent performances in top-flight cricket. It was along expected lines that Dhawan, the senior-most member of the camp, will be handed the reins while mainstays Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are away on England duty.
Moreover, users were lavish in praise of the youngsters who made the cut on the back of scintillating exploits in the IPL and domestic circles. Wiry left-arm Chetan Sakariya, who lost his elder brother and father in quick succession this year, is one among the fresh recruits. For the rookie who went through an excruciatingly rough patch in his personal life, the national call-up would prove to be a soothing balm.
The ODIs will take place on July 13, 16 and 18 while the T20Is will be played on July 21, 23 and 25. The Indian team for the Sri Lanka assignment is as follows:
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vc), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
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