Suryakumar Yadav will lead India in three T20Is in Sri Lanka, which begin on July 27 in Pallekele. Rohit Sharma will captain the ODI side for the first time since last year’s World Cup final defeat, while KL Rahul returns to the national team. Shubman Gill will be the vice-captain of both white-ball teams in the series.
Suryakumar takes over as India’s T20I captain from Rohit, who announced his retirement following the team’s T20 World Cup victory in Barbados last month. Suryakumar, 33, made his international debut in a T20I against England in 2021 and has since scored over 2300 runs in the format, including four hundreds and 19 fifties. The Mumbai batsman has previously led India in seven T20Is, hitting 300 runs, including a century. It is understood that Hardik Pandya’s fitness concerns and workload management were key factors in the management’s decision to opt for Suryakumar as the captain instead.
Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, and Khaleel Ahmed have all been included to the T20I and ODI squads. Riyan Parag, who made his T20I debut on the Zimbabwe trip, and Harshit Rana have been called up for their first ODIs with the Indian team, which will also include Virat Kohli, K.L. Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer.
India will arrive in Sri Lanka on July 22 and kick up their trip with back-to-back T20Is on July 27 and 28, followed by the series finale on July 30.
The action will next transfer to the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo, which will host three ODIs on August 2, 4, and 7.
The tour to Sri Lanka marks Gautam Gambhir’s debut series as India’s head coach, following Rahul Dravid’s departure with the 2024 T20 World Cup victory in the West Indies last month. The BCCI said it will continue to assess players’ availability and participation in the forthcoming domestic cricket season 2024-25.
India T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman 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.
India ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman 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.