Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has raised questions over the exclusion of spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Abhishek Sharma from the Men in Blue team for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour. Under the leadership of new head coach Gautam Gambhir, India is scheduled to play three T20 and three ODI matches in Sri Lanka from July 27. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the squads for both formats and named Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20 captain following Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the format.
In the T20 team, Abhishek Sharma’s omission was the biggest talking point, he recently made his debut against Zimbabwe and scored a century in his second match as well. He did not get a place in any team, while Chahal, who was a part of the T20 World Cup, was also dropped for the Sri Lanka tour. Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson, on the other hand, was only named in the T20 squad and not included in the ODIs as Rishabh Pant has been recalled after making a comeback into the Indian team in the T20 World Cup last month.
Harbhajan wrote on Twitter, “It is difficult to understand why Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma are not part of the Indian team for Sri Lanka.”
Hard to understand why @yuzi_chahal @IamAbhiSharma4 @IamSanjuSamson are not part of the Indian Team for Sri Lanka 🙄
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) July 19, 2024
Additionally, India’s key players returned to T20 cricket after being rested for the Zimbabwe tour. Harshit Rana’s inclusion in the ODI squad was one of the notable changes in the announcement. The 22-year-old Delhi fast bowler has been included in the squad for the first time and will join his former Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Gambhir in Sri Lanka. In IPL 2024, he took 19 wickets in 13 matches for KKR and was the second-highest wicket-taker for the franchise after Varun Chakravarthy’s 21 wickets.
India’s T20 team: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khalil Ahmed, Mohammad Siraj.
India’s ODI team: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Akshar Patel, Khalil Ahmed, Harshit Rana.