India will host Sri Lanka in 3 T20Is and as many ODIs from January 3 to 15 across different centres in the country. A week before the start of the series, the BCCI announced the squads for the series. Hardik Pandya will lead the T20I side while Rohit Sharma will be back to lead the ODI team. He isn’t fit for the ODI series.
Apart from Rohit, there was no place for Virat Kohli and KL Rahul either. While Kohli had reportedly asked for a break from the T20I series, there is no news on Rahul’s absence. With Rishabh Pant also not being part of the T20I squad, the BCCI announced a new vice-captain for the series.
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Suryakumar Yadav has joined the leadership group for the first time in his career and will be assisting Hardik Pandya in the T20I series. The number 1 ranked batsman in T20I cricket, Suryakumar Yadav has been rewarded for his dream run in the shortest format.
This is the first time when Suryakuyar has joined the leadership group at the highest level. He hasn’t led any IPL team. He was Gautam Gambhir’s deputy at Kolkata Knight Riders for a few years.
Even though Suryakumar hasn’t led an IPL team yet, the right-handed batsman has the experience of leading his state team, Mumbai. It will be entering to see if Suryakumar’s elevation can see him become a part of the Mumbai Indians leadership group or not. Should Hardik miss any of the T20Is during the series, Suryakumar will make his captaincy debut.
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Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar are two new faces in the T20I side. This was the maiden India call-up for Mavi while Mukesh was part of the squad for the home ODI series against South Africa. In the IPL 2023 mini-auction, Mavi joined Gujarat Titans for Rs 6 crore whereas Delhi Capitals shelled out Rs 5.50 crore for Mukesh.
The three T20Is of the series will be played on January 3, 5 and 7 in Mumbai, Pune and Rajkot, respectively.
