Suryakumar Yadav named Indian captain, Sanju Samson returns; Rohit-Virat alliance for Sri Lanka tour
MUMBAI: The Indian squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, which begins later this month, has been announced. Suryakumar Yadav has been announced as India's new Twenty20 captain in the wake of Rohit Sharma's retirement. Rohit Sharma himself will lead the team in the ODI series. Another notable change is the removal of Hardik Pandya from the position of vice-captain in both formats. The young player Shubman Gill is the new vice-captain of India in the ODI Twenty20 teams. Gill led the youth team that recently toured Zimbabwe.
Malayali player Sanju V Samson has been included in the T20 team but has not been considered for the ODI team. Ryan Parag of Rajasthan Royals has been included in the squad for both the formats. Sri Lanka is the first series that the Indian team will play under the new coach Gautam Gambhir. The series consists of three T20 and ODI matches each. Senior players such as captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been included in the ODI team. Apart from Ryan Parag, Shivam Dubey and Harshit Rana have also been included in the ODI squad.
Shreyas Iyer, who was dropped from the BCCI central contract while star pacer Jasprit Bumrah was rested, has returned to the squad. It was announced that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will also be rested, but coach Gambhir had earlier requested that both of them be included in the tour considering that the team will play only six ODIs before the Champions Trophy.
Team announced by BCCI
Twenty20: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Ryan Parag, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khalil Ahmed, Muhammad Siraj.
ODIs: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Rian Parag, Axar Patel, Khalil Ahmed, Harshit Rana