Mumbai: The Indian limited-overs squad, comprising 20 players and five nets bowlers, left for Sri Lanka Monday and will reach Colombo after 4 pm.
“They will reach Colombo after 4pm and straightaway enter quarantine,” confirmed an official from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The team, led by opener Shikhar Dhawan and coached by Rahul Dravid, will play three ODIs and three T20 Internationals next month.
“All SET! [emoticon: blue heart]. Sri Lanka bound Flag of Sri LankaAirplane. #TeamIndia Flag of India #SLvIND,” tweeted the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“We will begin practice three days after arrival in Colombo,” skipper Dhawan had told media on Sunday. It means that the Indians will likely begin training latest by Friday, 11 days before the tour opening ODI July 13th.
India also play ODIs July 16th and 18th. The ODI series will be followed by the T20 International series, with matches July 21, 23 and 25.
“The key goal is to try and win the series. Hopefully, people can get opportunities to put up performances and knock on the doors of selectors,” Dravid had said ahead of the departure to Sri Lanka.
India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.
Net bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh.