India has announced the white-ball squads for the home series against Sri Lanka and there have been a few surprise additions and exclusions in the side. While Rohit Sharma will be leading the ODI squad, Hardik Pandya will be leading the T20I squad.
Hardik Pandya has been elevated as the ODI vice-captain. Notably, it was KL Rahul who previously held the post of vice-captain. KL Rahul hasn’t been in the most consistent form off-late and needs a few runs to get his confidence back up.
The first T20I between India and Sri Lanka will be played on 3rd January 2023. It will be taking place at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India is coming on the back of a 1-2 ODI series loss at the hands of Bangladesh. However, they staged a comeback and won the Test series 2-0, inflicting a whitewash on the home side.
In this article, we take a look at 3 players who have been excluded from India’s T20I squad:
1. Rishabh Pant
One of the notably omissions from the white-ball set-up in this series was flamboyant and swashbuckling wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant. The 25-year-old isn’t enjoying the best of form off-late and has a paltry average of only 21.35 in T20Is in 2022. His strike-rate has also dropped to 132.9. However, according to Sports Tak, Pant has not been dropped from the squads. Rishabh Pant will be undergoing strength training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) at Bengaluru for his knee. Thus, he has been rested for this series as per the news portal.
2. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
India’s swing-king, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been dropped from the T20I squad of India. Kumar had bagged only 4 wickets in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia and failed to leave a lasting impression. Even though his overall record in T20Is in 2022 has been good, he has not been selected by the selection committee of the apex body of Indian cricket, the Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI). Kumar has bagged 39 wickets in 2022 with a good average of 19.07.
3. Mohammad Siraj
Even though Mohammad Siraj was a part of the T20I squad of India for the tour of New Zealand, he has not been selected for this T20I squad. He has however made it to the ODI side. The likes of Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar have been given a nod ahead of Siraj. It is a little surprising as Siraj had bagged the player of the match award in the 3rd T20I between India and New Zealand for his exceptional spell of 4/17. He had bagged a total of 6 wickets in 2 matches in that rain-curtailed series.
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