India’s T20I squad for the 3 games against Sri Lanka will feature 4 new names. Washington Sundar, Jaydev Unadkat, Deepak Hooda and Basil Thampi have earned their maiden call-ups in the national side. Virat Kohli, who was rested from the ODI series, gets an extended break before the all-important South Africa tour and Rohit Sharma will lead the T20I side in his absence.
The all-rounder Washington Sundar displayed an impressive performance in the Indian Premier League earlier this year while playing for Rising Pune Supergiant. Since then, he pulled off stunning outings in domestic cricket as well as in the Tamil Nadu Premier League where he ended up as the leading run-getter and the second highest wicket-taker.
The pacer Basil Thampi had impressed one and all with his sheer pace while playing for Gujarat Lions in the IPL. Mohammad Siraj, who played in the T20I series against New Zealand, has retained his place. “We feel Basil and Siraj are more for suited for T20 format at the moment,” MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors.
Jaydev Unadkat is another pacer who had a superb run in this year’s IPL for Rising Puner Supergiant as he finished as the second highest wicket-taker in the league. He had made his T20I debut last year against Zimbabwe and makes a return to the side on the back of decent shows in domestic cricket.
Deepak Hooda has been in the thick of things for quite some time and finally gets the reward for his hard work. Shreyas Iyer has managed to hold onto his place after playing in the T20I series against the Kiwis. Another notable exclusion from the side is Shikhar Dhawan who has been rested before the South African tour. The absence of Dhawan means that KL Rahul will accompany Rohit at the top.
India’s T20I squad for the Sri Lanka T20Is
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat
Fixtures for the T20I series
1st T20I: December 20 at Cuttack
2nd T20I: December 22 at Indore
3rd T20I: December 24 at Mumbai
