The Indian squad for the upcoming limited overs series against Sri Lanka will be selected on August 11, Friday.
MSK Prasad, the Chairman of Selectors, will join the selection meeting from Sri Lanka along with skipper Virat Kohli.
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There are reports that the Indian skipper might be rested for the series, as he has been playing international cricket for a long time and with the Indian team set to play more than 30 games in next six months, there will be not much time left for him to take rest. In his absence, Rohit Sharma is expected to take the charge.
However, Rohit was rested for the series against Windies after the ICC Champions Trophy and is fully fit to participate in the series against Sri Lanka. Kohli’s absence will open the doors for a new candidate and selectors can look up to Cheteshwar Pujara in that case. The Test number three batsman has played five ODIs for India with no success.
This can be a golden opportunity for the selectors to test him out against an opposition which does not possess much threat to the team.
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Along with Kohli, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are also expected to be rested for the series. In that case, Axar Patel will get his place back on the side, whereas, one spot will be fulfilled by either Jayant Yadav or Amit Mishra, who was Man of the Series for the ODI series against New Zealand, last year.
Apart from them, no such surprises are expected but one cannot rule out a comeback of Suresh Raina. He recently appeared for a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore and might join the team. Along with him, Jasprit Bumrah will also get his place back in the limited overs cricket after being rested for Windies series.
The five match ODI series kicks off from August 20 with the first game to be played in Dambulla. The lone T20I of the series will be played in Colombo on September 6.
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