SL Tour: Dhawan to lead; Shaw, Padikkal earn call-ups

TIL Desk Sports/ Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan will lead a second-string India team in their limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka next month with pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar named as his deputy, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) said on Thursday.

India will face the hosts in three one-day internationals and three Twenty20 games next month with all matches to be played at the R Premadasa International stadium in Colombo. Regular skipper Virat Kohli and India’s leading players are in Southampton, England for their World Test Championship final against New Zealand starting June 18 and a full series against England.

Batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad earned his maiden call-up to the national team following a fine display for Indian Premier League side Chennai Super Kings this year. India will play the first ODI against Sri Lanka on July 13 with the T20 series set to start on July 21.

Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.