BCCI announced a 16 member squad for the three-match home T20I series against Sri Lanka. Sanju Samson who had last featured in an ODI in Sri Lanka has received a call-up in the Indian T20I squad.
IND vs SL T20I Series
The inclusion of Samson comes as a surprise for fans as he had failed to deliver in his previous outing. On the other hand, KL Rahul who is still recovering from his injury will miss the Sri Lanka T20Is.
Apart from KL Rahul, India will miss the services of Virat Kohli & Rishabh Pant who has been rested from the series & final T20I against West Indies in order to manage their workload. The duo has already left the Indian team’s camp in Kolkata & will return for the Sri Lanka test series. With three key players of the Indian team being rested there are chances for Sanju Samson to feature in the Playing XI.
Bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has also been rested for the T20I series but India’s key all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will make a comeback in the squad who has been out of action for a while due to an injury. Jadeja last featured for India in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand last November and missed out on the South Africa tour due to an injury.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah who was rested for the West Indies series will return to the squad & has been named as Rohit Sharma’s deputy for the test series. On the other hand, Washington Sundar who was ruled out of the T20I series against West Indies due to injury will continue his recovery & has been excluded from the T20I squad.
Sri Lanka tour of India will commence with the T20I series. The first T20I of the series will be played in Lucknow on February 24 while the next two T20Is will be played in Dharamshala followed by a two-match test series. The first test of the series will be played in Mohali from 4th March while the final test of the series which is a day & night test will be played in Bengaluru from 12th march. Sri Lanka is currently playing a T20I series in Australia which is already clinched by Australia with a 4-0 score.
IND vs SL T20I Series: India Squad
Rohit Sharma (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Md Siraj, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan.
Sri Lanka Tour of India Revised Schedule:
| 1 | Thursday | 24th February | 1st T20I | Lucknow |
| 2 | Saturday | 26th February | 2nd T20I | Dharamsala |
| 3 | Sunday | 27th February | 3rd T20I | Dharamsala |
| 4 | Friday | 4th-8th March | 1st Test | Mohali |
| 5 | Saturday | 12th -16th March | 2nd Test (D/N) | Bengaluru |