IND vs SL: Hardik Pandya to lead in T20Is, promoted as ODI vice-captain with Shikhar Dhawan dropped

On Tuesday (December 27), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee — under outgoing chief Chetan Sharma — announced India’s squads for the white-ball home series versus Sri Lanka, which gets underway next year on January 03 in Mumbai. As expected, Hardik Pandya has once again been named as the captain of the T20I squad with no big guns available whereas Rohit Sharma will return to take charge of the ODI line-up after his thumb injury during the Bangladesh tour. Hardik has also been promoted as the new ODI vice-captain. 

Some of the notable factors from the T20I line-up is that Suryakumar Yadav has been named as the vice-captain, which doesn’t include the likes of KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, etc. Meanwhile, it is a young squad including the likes of Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar (recently bought by Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023 mini-auction for INR 5 crores), etc. It gives one a sneak peek of the selectors’ mindset keeping in view the next edition of the T20 World Cup, in West Indies and USA, in 2024.

Talking about the ODI squad, Pant remains absent from it as well. The biggest omission is Shikhar Dhawan, who has struggled for runs and has seen a sharp decline in his strike rate amid rising stocks of Kishan and Gill. Meanwhile, Md Shami also returned whereas the likes of Rahul and Kohli will feature straightaway in the 50-over series. There’s no mention of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja as the duo are expected to return for the New Zealand white-ball series at home. 

BCCI’s official Twitter handle released the squads via separate posts: 

India’s squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.

India’s squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.