India vs Sri Lanka: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the T20 and ODI team for the Sri Lanka tour. It seems that Chief Coach Gautam Gambhir had a lot of say in the selection of the players. Earlier it was reported that Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli has asked for a break from this tour, but both the senior players are returning to the ODI series. After Rohit left the T20 captaincy, it was expected that Hardik Pandya would be the strong contender. But Suryakumar Yadav was made the captain for the T20 series and Shubman Gill was promoted as his deputy. Hardik has been included in the team only as an all-rounder. He has also been given a break from ODIs. As soon as Gautam Gambhir became the chief coach, big changes have started appearing in the team.
Shubman Gill got promotion
Shubman Gill has also been made the vice-captain of the ODI team. Suryakumar Yadav was once Gambhir's vice-captain in Kolkata Knight Riders. He has been given a big responsibility, giving him preference over Hardik Pandya. It has been decided to give Jasprit Bumrah a long rest. He will not be a part of this tour. Despite being out of the BCCI's central contract, Shreyas Iyer has been given a chance in the ODI team, he made Kolkata Knight Riders the champion this year. However, Ishan Kishan failed to make a comeback in the team.
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Hardik Pandya overlooked as captain
Keeping Hardik out of the leadership in any way has also emerged as a question for cricket pundits. No concrete reason has been given by the BCCI nor can any concrete guess be made. Gambhir's trust in Surya is not surprising, yet ignoring Hardik is not making sense. Shubman Gill, who captained the team on the Zimbabwe tour, has been promoted. It is believed that Pandya's failure as captain in IPL 2024 and his frequent injuries may also be a reason. It is also possible that Gambhir wants to make Gill a better leader as per his future plans.
Many big stars are out
Abhishek Sharma, who made a splash on the Zimbabwe tour, has not got a place in the T20 team this time. Similarly, Kuldeep Yadav, who played an important role in the title win of the T20 World Cup 2024, is also not a part of the T20 team. But his presence in ODIs proves that his workload has been managed. Gambhir has worked with Ravi Bishnoi in Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and has shown confidence in him again. Gaikwad has been left out despite his excellent performance against Zimbabwe. While Riyan Parag has been given preference over him in both the teams.
Is Gambhir supporting KKR players?
Gautam Gambhir's first team includes KKR stars Shreyas Iyer, Harshit Rana (ODI team) and Rinku Singh (T20 team). Like Suryakumar, Gambhir's trust in Shreyas Iyer is not surprising. Iyer led KKR to their third IPL title in 2024, when Gambhir was the mentor of the team. Harshit Rana's performance was excellent and he has been given a place in the team as a lower-order batsman in the ODI format. There were talks of Ishan Kishan's good days coming under Gambhir's coaching, but he will have to wait longer.
India's T20 and ODI team for Sri Lanka tour
T20 Team: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khalil Ahmed, Mohammad Siraj.
ODI team: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khalil Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
