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India and Sri Lanka are set to face each other in the limited-overs series that starts in July. The tour will commence with three-match ODI series that begins on July 13. After the ODI leg, both teams will battle it out in the T20I series consisting of three games, starting from July 22.
Some of the star players, along with other aspiring youngsters, will miss out on the Lankan tour as they will be in England for the five-match Test series beginning in the first week of August. This means that some new faces and relatively inexperienced players can be seen in the Lankan tour.
Speaking about the same, former India international Deep Dasgupta picked his India’s XI for the T20I series against the Islanders. During an interaction with ESPNcricinfo, Dasgupta selected an interesting XI with a mixture of experience and youth.
The cricketer-turned-commentator started the proceedings by naming Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw as openers of his team. Both the players impressed everyone with their spectacular performances in the now-postponed Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
Regarding the middle-order, Dasgupta went with Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav and Manish Pandey for number three, four and fifth position, respectively. While Samson and Surya will be the aggressors, Pandey would be expected to play the role of an anchor.
The 43-year-old then named Hardik Pandya and Rahul Tewatia as his all-rounders. Hardik has already proven his dexterity in the shortest format with the bat. However, Dasgupta picked Hardik as his third seamer, expecting him to bowl a few overs.
“Keeping in mind that Hardik will bowl a couple of overs, I will go with him as my third seamer,” said the former wicket-keeper.
Among the pacers, Dasgupta picked Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan with Chetan Sakariya as optional left-armer in place of Natarajan. The Kolkata-born named Rahul Chahar as a lone specialist spinner in his team.
Here is Deep Dasgupta’s India’s T20I XI for the Sri Lanka series:
Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Tewatia, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan/Chetan Sakariya.
