Team India has arrived in Sri Lanka and has also participated in their first practice session with their new head coach Gautam Gambhir. The Men in Blue are now gearing up for the three-match T20I series against the Island nation which will be held in Pallekele, starting from 27 July. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are two big names that are yet to arrive in SL. They have been on rest since the historic triumph in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024. However, they were not the only absentees, two big KKR stars were also not among the group that left for Sri Lanka. Shreyas Iyer and Harshit Rana are also yet to join the Indian team for the tour.
Why Iyer and Rana did not travel with team?
Similarly, to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, BCCI might have given the players who will participate only in the ODI leg of the tour more rest before joining the rest of the group in Sri Lanka. They will most probably leave for the Island nation in a couple of days. The ODI series is set to start on August 2, so there is more than a week available for these players to fly to Sri Lanka. The ODI series will mark the return of Virat and Rohit since the victory in the Final played in Barbados.
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This series will also be KL Rahul's first white-ball series in this year. He last played the ODI series against South Africa, where he was leading the Men in Blue side. Kuldeep Yadav is another prominent name that will join the team later as he is only part of the ODI leg.
India Squads for Sri Lanka series
T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.
ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
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WATCH: BCCI shares Team India's first practice session under new head coach Gautam Gambhir
