The ‘string’ theory of international cricket
Indian top guns will be in England during Sri Lanka's white-ball seires
Shikhar Dhawan will lead a second string Indian team to play Sri Lanka in a six-match limited over series next month. The series, which includes three ODIs and as many T20 internationals, will be played at the newly refurbished R Premadasa International Stadium starting July 13.
The Indian Test team is currently in England preparing for the finals of the World Test Championship against New Zealand and therefore regulars like Indian skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Jasprir Bumrah and Rishabh Pant are not in the touring side.
However India still looks a formidable side given the experience the players have had in the IPL–a tournament that has given India the option of building a strong bench strength to replace those regulars in the national team.
Sri Lanka on other had are experimenting with a young side with the hope of building a ‘strong’ team come the 2023 World Cup. They have dropped players like Angelo Mathews, Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal from white-ball cricket at least for now but may recall them to the side depending on what transpires during the England series starting June 23.
Sri Lanka sits at the bottom of the World Super League points table with just a solitary win in six games so far and would want to cash in, in the opportunity of a ‘weakened’ Indian side to reverse their fortunes. Each win carries 10 points.
However India had beaten Sri Lanka 5-0 when they toured here in 2017 in ODIs and a second string Indian team led by Rohit Sharma then lifted the Nidahas Trophy in 2018 where Sri Lanka even failed to reach the finals.
India will arrive on June 28 and after mandatory quarantine they will be allowed to train. The ODIs will be played on July 13, 16 and 18 followed by the T-20s on July 21, 23 and 25.
| 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. | |