Team India is set to tour Sri Lanka in July for three ODIs and three T20Is. With the senior team touring England for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final followed by the Test series against England, the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) will field a completely different team against Sri Lanka.
Recently, BCCI announced a 20-men India squad for the WTC final starting June 18 and the 5-Test series against England, which will be played from August 4.
Since captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be in England on tour, the question – Who will lead the side? – arises.
Former India wicket-keeper turned commentator Deep Dasgupta, while speaking on Sports Today, stated that Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar would be ideal candidates for the captaincy.
“Obviously, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul are not available. The senior-most player available in that side is Shikhar, so Shikhar (captaincy option) I guess.”
“One of the questions was ‘who do I see captaining the side?’, I mentioned Shikhar, let’s not forget, if Bhuvneshwar is fit and ready to play, he is a good captain candidate as well for that series,” he added.
The Indian team will not return from the United Kingdom despite a month’s gap due to travel restrictions in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Kohli lead squad is set to leave for the tour on June 2.
Dhawan and Bhuvi, having been left out of the English tour, would be hoping to get the new role in the team. The BCCI has yet not named the captain for the white-ball series, and hence it would be interesting to see if any of them are appointed as the skipper.
Meanwhile, the schedule and venue for the Sri Lanka tour have been finalised, and the series will commence with the ODIs on July 13, 16 and 19, followed by the T20 segment on July 22, 24 and 27.
