The India tour of Sri Lanka will roll out in July. The tour comprises three one-day international and three twenty-over international matches and will commence from 13th July.
The 3-match fifty-over series will be played first starting from 13th July to 18th July. The ODIs will be followed by the twenty-over format from 21st to 25. All of these matches will be played at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Tour Details
The former Indian cricketer and captain, Rahul Dravid will be accompanying the Indian squad traveling to Sri Lanka. In the absence of Ravi Shastri, Rahul Dravid will be their head coach for this series. Shastri is currently in England with the rest of the squad, preparing for the upcoming series against England. Rahul Dravid has previously been the head coach of India A and India under-19 from 2016 to 2019.
However, now he monitors the progress of India A and the under-19 squad. Due to a tight schedule of international matches in the ICC calendar, the availability of players has become a major issue. The first team players can’t travel to Sri Lanka from England and then quarantine themselves for two weeks before the tour starts. Hence, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had to pick a B team that will be facing the Sri Lankans. Rahul Dravid who is seen to have picked a relatively less experienced squad for this tour will have a long list of challenges ahead.
India will travel to Sri Lanka on Monday and quarantine themselves for three days before beginning their training sessions. A total of 6 uncapped players have been named in the squad. What might seem like a very precarious idea to the rest of the world, has apparently been quite adventurous for Rahul Dravid. The former Indian captain’s efforts to bring in new players might be an inadvertent effort to increase the squad depth of the team.
Rahul Dravid’s Statement
Rahul Dravid has stated that winning the series against Sri Lanka would be their top most priority. A strong statement such as this should be reason enough to believe that India will be looking forward to improving their finishing touch in overseas matches. New Zealand very recently defeated team India in the one-off test match of the ICC Men’s World Test Championship Finals in Southampton, England. Virat Kohli and his team, who had to see another major ICC trophy slip away from their hands, left the fans quite enraged and in emotional turmoil. The loss in the World Test Championship is still a fresh wound and an overwhelming victory against Sri Lanka from Rahul Dravid’s traveling squad will be the quick fix to it. India’s inability to win the maiden match in a series has become somewhat of a routine in every tour they go to.
Owing to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in October; good performance from these youngsters might earn them a call-up for the much-anticipated tournament. However, Rahul Dravid’s advice for these players has been to “soak in the experience of being part of the team in an overseas tour”. The “key-goal” as mentioned by Dravid will be to win the series and nothing else. While players like Chetan Sakariya, Nitish Rana, and Devdutt Paddikal will have the attention of the selectors. Dravid has asked him to be calm and not be too cautious of their composure. The performance pressure will be in abundance for these players, but an off-day in the series will not mean the end of opportunity.
Player Selection
The head coach who has immense faith in his team believes that even being present in the tour will help the players learn a lot from their senior players. The players will of course be determined to catch the eye of the selectors and prove their strength and character in the tour; but Rahul Dravid believes otherwise. The head coach has said that “a lot goes into the selection process” and a good or bad performance will not guarantee them a place in the T20 World Cup squad. The only thing the players could take back home from the series is experience and elevate their self-belief.
The squad will feature only a handful of players with adept international experience. Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya are amongst those names. Dhawan has also been chosen as the one to lead the squad on the ground and, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar; the right-arm fast bowler will be the vice-captain assisting Dhawan.
Conclusion
In absence of the white-ball specialists of the game; all eyes will be on Rahul Dravid’s team and Shikhar Dhawan’s decision-making. This tour will prove to be quintessential for the likes of Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav.