Team India are reportedly set to tour Sri Lanka in August this year. The development comes in the wake of BCCI’s decision to postpone the white-ball tour of Bangladesh, scheduled to take place next month.
The Men in Blue were scheduled to visit Bangladesh in August for three ODIs and as many T20Is. However, the series has now been postponed to September 2026. With the series now postponed, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) as well as another cricket board has reportedly proposed a limited-overs series during the same period. Sri Lanka have shown interest in hosting India for three ODIs and three T20Is next month.
New face to lead India in Sri Lanka?
While only time will tell how things unfold in the coming days, the selectors are likely to spring a number of surprises if Team India indeed tour Sri Lanka. While the T20I team is unlikely to see any big change, the same cannot be said about the ODI team.
According to reports, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel is keen on replacing Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain too. The veteran captain has already retired from T20Is and Tests but is still available for selection in the 50-over format. Earlier this year, Rohit led India to glory in the ICC Champions Trophy but could lose his captaincy soon.
With the next World Cup still a couple of years away, the team-management would be keen to handover the captaincy to a player who is playing international cricket regularly. As a result, Rohit might be removed from the ODI captaincy too.
Rohit Sharma’s replacement as India ODI captain:
With Rohit’s future as India captain uncertain, Shubman Gill has emerged as the front-runner to lead the team in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. Gill was named as the Test captain in May after Rohit announced his retirement from the longest format of the game.
He has been groomed as a future leader for quite some time now. With Rohit in twilight of his career, it would not be surprising if he is replaced by Gill as the ODI captain in the coming days. Even though Rohit is likely to be sacked as the captain, he as well as Virat Kohli are expected to be a part of the ODI team.
India predicted squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka:
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (C), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah