India's tour of Sri Lanka: Shikhar Dhawan to lead the side, maiden call-up for Sakariya, Padikkal, Rana

Shikhar Dhawan will lead India in the limited overs series against Sri Lanka, scheduled to begin on July 13.

Shikhar Dhawan will lead the Indian team.

Shikhar Dhawan will lead India in the limited overs series against Sri Lanka, scheduled to begin on July 13. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named his deputy.

With Virat Kohli's men busy in England, a young Indian team will play three ODIs and as many T20Is in the island nation, and on Thursday, the national selectors picked youngsters Chetan Sakariya, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad in the squad along with the seasoned campaigners - Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya.

READ: Rahul Dravid to be head coach for India's tour of Sri Lanka

While Padikkal has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit and the Indian Premier League, Saurashtra's Sakariya had a dream run in the IPL, playing for Rajasthan Royals. And his hard work paid as he received a maiden call-up.

Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh have been named as net bowlers.

As reported first by Sportstar , all the matches will be played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The Indian team will reach Sri Lanka on June 28 and will undergo hard quarantine till July 1, after which they will be allowed soft quarantine, with the option of practice. Once the seven-day quarantine is over, the team can train from June 5.

While the BCCI is yet to formally announce the coach, it is believed that Rahul Dravid will travel with the team as the head coach, along with NCA colleagues - including Paras Mhambrey.

India’s squad:  Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya. Net Bowlers:  Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh.

 

THE SCHEDULE

The ODI series: July 13, 16, 18 (All day-night games)

The T20I series: July 21, 23, 25 (Night games)