Suryakumar Yadav to lead India in Sri Lanka for T20s, Rohit Sharma returns as ODI skipper

NEW DELHI (AP) — Suryakumar Yadav will lead India on a tour of Sri Lanka as the new Twenty20 captain.

Rohit Sharma, who retired from T20 internationals after leading India to the World Cup triumph in the West Indies last month, returns as the skipper of the one-day international team.

India is in Sri Lanka for three T20s from July 27, all in Pallekele, and three ODIs from Aug. 2, all in Colombo.

Yadav, the No. 2-ranked T20 batter, has previously led India in seven T20s and won five.

Setting out a course for the future, the India selectors ignored Hardik Pandya, who was previously captain whenever Sharma wasn’t available. Pandya captained India in 16 T20s from June 2022 until August 2023, and won 10.

The all-rounder is often laid low with fitness issues and not giving him the captaincy is seen as a step to manage his playing workload. Pandya was rested from the ODI series.

Shubman Gill, who led India on the recent five-match T20 tour of Zimbabwe, will be the vice-captain for the ODIs and T20s.

Star batter Virat Kohli, who also retired from T20s after the World Cup, returns for the ODI leg.

Ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been rested from the tour.

Key members of India’s ODI World Cup campaign in November 2023 have returned, including Shreyas Iyer and Lokesh Rahul, who was designated the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter for ODIs.

Rishabh Pant will be his deputy, but will be the first-choice keeper for the T20s. Sanju Samson is the other T20 keeper.

Riyan Parag, who made his T20 debut in Zimbabwe, has also been given an ODI call-up. Left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma, who hit a maiden T20 hundred in Zimbabwe, has been left out.

Batting allrounder Shivam Dube, who played a pivotal role in India’s T20 World Cup campaign, was also in the ODI squad. Off-spin allrounder Washington Sundar was in both squads as well.

Left-arm spin allrounder Ravindra Jadeja, another who retired from T20 internationals after the World Cup, was dropped from the ODI squad. Axar Patel took his spot as the leading all-round option in both squads.

Unorthodox wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who took 10 wickets in the T20 World Cup, missed out. He will lead the spin attack in the ODIs. Wrist spinner Ravi Bishnoi continues on in the T20s from the Zimbabwe tour.

Mohammed Siraj, Khaleel Ahmed and Arshdeep Singh form the troika of pace options across both squads, while medium-pacer Harshit Rana has been given an ODI call-up.

This will be India’s first assignment under new coach Gautam Gambhir.

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India:

T20: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Ꮪhubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj.

ODI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ꮪhubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Lokesh Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket