5 Players Who Received Maiden India Call-up For Limited-Overs Tour To Sri Lanka

On Thursday the BCCI announced India’s 20-man squad, plus five reserves, for the limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in July. The tour comprises six matches: three ODIs (on July 13, 16 and 18), followed by three T20Is (July 21, 23, 25), all to be played in Colombo.

The squad is a second-string squad since most of the first-choice players are in England for the Test assignments –  WTC final against New Zealand from June 18, followed by a 5-Test series against England starting in August.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan has been named as the captain of the side, with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his deputy. Former India captain Rahul Dravid will fill in for Ravi Shastri as the head coach for the tour. As the first-choice players will be in England, plenty of youngsters have been named in the squad – 5 of whom have received their maiden India call-up.

5 Players who received maiden India call-up for the limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka:

Devdutt Padikkal

On the back of brilliant performances in the IPL and in domestic matches, Devdutt Padikkal has forced his selection in India’s white-ball squad. Opening for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the left-hander made his IPL debut last season in the UAE, where he amassed 473 runs with the help of 5 fifties; he followed it up with another promising season this year – before the tournament was suspended, Padikkal had scored 195 runs in 6 matches, including a game against the Rajasthan Royals where he notched up his maiden IPL ton.

Between the two IPLs, the Karnataka opener had a record-breaking Vijay Hazare Trophy – he became the first Indian to hit four consecutive List A centuries, and tallied a total of 737 runs at an average of 147 in the tournament. Although Prithvi Shaw, who has earned a recall to the national setup on the back of his own scintillating form, is likely to partner Shikhar Dhawan at the top, an India debut for Padikkal could be possible as well.

Ruturaj Gaikwad

Similar to Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad also made his IPL debut last season, for the Chennai Super Kings, and has been impressive in the two seasons so far. He recorded three consecutive fifties towards the end of IPL 2020 and hit a couple more in IPL 2021.

Gaikwad averages 47.87 in 59 matches in List A cricket. An India debut on the Sri Lanka tour seems unlikely for the Maharashtra batsman, however, he would have plenty to learn from other senior players in the squad.

Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana has been a regular member of the Kolkata Knight Riders eleven for the four seasons now. Overall the left-hander has notched up 13 IPL half-centuries and has a strike rate of 133.82.

For Delhi he also has three centuries in List A cricket and averages 41.27; he has an average of 41.20 in first-class cricket too. Rana is a versatile batsman and is adept in shifting in the batting order – he has been promoted as an opener for KKR in IPL 2021 before succeeding in earlier seasons in the middle-order. He would be facing competition for a spot with the likes of Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, and Manish Pandey.

Chetan Sakariya

Chetan Sakariya’s call-up to the national squad is the result of his instant success and impressive show in the truncated IPL 2021. The Rajasthan Royals pacer picked up 7 wickets – including two 3-wicket hauls – in 7 matches at a decent economy of 8.22. He displayed a good range of slower variations and can swing the new ball as well.

In absence of the injured T Natarajan, Sakariya provides the left-arm angle; India are carrying just 3 other frontline pacers –  Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, and Navdeep Saini – hence Sakariya could well get an opportunity to make his national debut in Sri Lanka.

Krishnappa Gowtham

Krishnappa Gowtham’s selection came as a little surprise considering the presence of Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, and Nitish Rana as well, who can bowl handy off-spin. However, the 32-year-old Gowtham was a reserve bowler during the four-match home Test series against England, and hence this is a step up for the Karnataka all-rounder.

Gowtham, who recently became the most expensive uncapped Indian player in the IPL auction as CSK bought him for INR 9.25 crore,  hasn’t featured in any games in IPL 2021 yet and played in 9 games in the previous two seasons combined.

In domestic cricket, though, he has an impressive record to show. The right-hander bats with a strike rate of 141.26 in List-A cricket, where he averages a decent 28.14 with the ball, and tonks at 159.24 in T20 cricket.

Also Read: IPL 2021: Rating Bowlers’ Performances In The Death Overs In The 14th Season