Bhubaneswar: India will be touring Sri Lanka for a limited overs series sometime in July this year. As per the initial itinerary, the Men in Blue will play three ODIs and an equal number of T20 games. However, the participation of cricketers like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and a few others have been ruled out during the series. This is because at that time, India will be busy playing a five-Test series against England.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has already informed that a completely new-look India team will be touring Sri Lanka. He has said that the main aim of the tour will be providing international exposure to talented youngsters. The tour will also act as a platform for those who are injured and have missing international matches for a lengthy period.
In this backdrop and in the absence of both Kohli and Rohit, the question is who will lead India. Well three names are doing the rounds at present.
The first among the three is Sikhar Dhawan. He has lost his place in the Indian Test side and hence he is an automatic choice for the team that will tour Sri Lanka. Dhawan showed that he is in very good form in the recently-suspended IPL. He scored 380 runs in eight matches. Dhawan has so far played 142 ODIs and 65 T20I games. So experience-wise he is the fittest to lead the side. It should also be stated here that Dhawan was the vice-captain of the Indian team that participated in the 2018 Asia Cup. For a brief period he also led Deccan Chargers (now SunRisers Hyderabad) in the IPL. “Sikhar is a proven player in white ball cricket. So he is a strong contender for captaincy,” said a BCCI source.
The second contender for the post is Hardik Pandya. As far as Hardik is concerned, his reputation as a white-ball match-winner can’t be discounted either. “Yes, Hardik hasn’t been regularly bowling for Mumbai Indians or India in recent times. However, he is the man with x-factor and among options available. He is miles ahead of his peers in terms of being an impact performer. And who knows, may be extra responsibility brings the best out of him,” stated a BCCI source Tuesday.
The name of KL Rahul is also floating up. In the limited opportunities that he has got while leading Punjab Kings, the Karnataka batsman has been praised. Rahul, at the moment is injured. So there are doubts about his inclusion in the Indian squad. So if he fails to travel to England, he also may get the chance to lead the Men in Blue.
The dark horse in the race for captaincy is medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He has so far played 165 ODI games for India and so has the necessary experience. So he may get the nod from the BCCI selectors.