India to field white-ball specialists for Sri Lanka tour in July: Sourav Ganguly
Story highlights
The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Indian cricket team will tour Sri Lanka in July for a limited-overs bilateral series consisting of three ODIs and five T20Is.
The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Indian cricket team will tour Sri Lanka in July for a limited-overs bilateral series consisting of three ODIs and five T20Is.
However, major names such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma are set to miss the tour as they will be engaged in a five-Test series against England.
"We have planned a white ball series for the senior men's team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and ODIs in Sri Lanka," Ganguly told PTI in an interaction.
Ganguly further clarified the team travelling to Sri Lanka will be completely different from that going for the WTC final and England series and called it team of “white-ball specialists”.
"Yes, it will be a team of white-ball specialists. It will be a different team," the former India captain said, making it clear that the cricket board also has the preparation of white ball regulars in mind.
ALSO READ: 'India have very good chance': Rahul Dravid predicts the scoreline of England vs India Test series
The BCCI would bank on the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar among others to be raring to go and prove a point ahead of the T20 World Cup.
"The BCCI president is very keen that all our top players are match ready and since England doesn't have a white ball leg the month of July can be utilized well," a BCCI source told PTI while explaining the logic behind the tour.
"Technically, in the month of July there are no official senior India team matches. The Test squad will be playing intra-squad games.
"So there is no harm in India's white-ball experts getting some match time and selectors also get to fix the missing jigsaws in selection puzzle."
The Sri Lanka tour in July will give a chance for many youngsters to make their mark in international stage before the T20 World Cup. The likes of Rahul Chahar, Rahul Tewatia, Chetan Sakariya, Devdutt Padikkal are among the players expected to get the nod.