The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the 15-member India Squad for Sri Lanka series, starting August 12 at the Galle. India are slated to play three Test matches under Virat Kohli’s captaincy.
Opener KL Rahul, who missed the one-off Test against Bangladesh in June owing to illness, has been drafted into the squad. Rahul is currently playing for India A in the unofficial Test against Australia A.
The Test opener made his debut against Australia, and scored his maiden Test century at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Meanwhile, leg-spinner Karn Sharma has been dropped from the India Squad for Sri Lanka series. Karn made his debut against Australia and was also included in the India squad for Bangladesh tour, but couldn’t feature in the one-off Test.
Karn missed the limited-over series against Zimbabwe owing to an injury. Along with Karn, pacer Mohammed Shami was also not considered for the series as he is still recovering from an injury.
Veteran Amit Mishra, meanwhile, is making a comeback after a span of almost four years in the Test squad. Inclusion of Mishra means, India is heading with a spin trio of Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mishra in the Test series.
There are no major surprises in the batting department, but it would be interesting to see who captain Kohli would play as openers. Murali Vijay, Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan are all in good nicks and Kohli would have a difficult choice to make for the opening slot.
The pace department of the Indian team is largely unchanged, as only the inclusion of Varun Aaron comes a surprise, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav are the other three pacers in the India Squad for Sri Lanka series.
India Squad for Sri Lanka Series: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra & Varun Aaron.
