On Tuesday the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee — under outgoing chief Chetan Sharma announced — India’s squads for the white-ball home series versus Sri Lanka, which gets underway next year on January 03 in Mumbai.
As expected, Hardik Pandya has once again been named as the captain of the T201 squad with no big guns available whereas Rohit Sharma will return to take charge of the ODI line-up after his thumb injury during the Bangladesh tour. Hardik has also been promoted as the new ODI vice-captain (despite KL Rahul’s presence).
Some of the notable factors from the T201 line-up is that Suryakumar Yadav has been named as the vice-captain, which doesn’t include the likes of Rahul, Rishabh Pant, etc. Meanwhile, it is a young squad including the likes of Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar (recently bought by Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023 mini-auction for INR 5 crores), etc. It gives one a sneak peek of the selectors’ mindset keeping in view the next edition of the T20 World Cup, in West Indies and USA, in 2024.
Talking about the ODI squad, Pant remains absent from it as well. Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is also not part of both squads. The biggest omission is Shikhar Dhawan, who has struggled for runs and has seen a sharp decline in his strike rate amid rising stocks of Kishan and Gill. Meanwhile, Md Shami also returned whereas the likes of Rahul and Kohli will feature straightaway in the 50-over series. There’s no mention of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja as the duo are expected to return for theNew Zealand white-ball series at home.
