IND vs SL: Watch - Deepak Hooda Set For Debut In First T20I, Receives Cap From Rohit Sharma

Indian middle-order batter Deepak Hooda recently made his debut in the ODIs against the West Indies and is all set to play his first T20I as well when India takes on Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Hooda’s growth continues and he will feature in the playing XI for the first T20I. Indian captain Rohit Sharma was seen handing over the cap to Hooda while his teammates applauded.

Watch Deepak Hooda receive his cap here:

ODI debut ✅
T20I debut ✅

Congratulations to @HoodaOnFire who is set to play his maiden T20I game. ? ?#TeamIndia | #INDvSL | @Paytm pic.twitter.com/4aUqemcFMF

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 24, 2022

Hooda is also useful with his off-spin which was partly the reason for his inclusion in the ODIs against the Windies. His slow right-arm dilly-dollies were used by KL Rahul in the previous IPL season for Punjab Kings.

Apart from Hooda, India also made five more changes from their previous T20I. Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant were released from the bio-bubble and they will be replaced by Hooda and Sanju Samson, who gets another chance in the national team.

Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar were ruled out prior to the start of the series due to injuries. They will be replaced by Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, the latter returning as the vice-captain of the team as well.

Finally, Yuzvendra Chahal returns to the fold in place of Ravi Bishnoi, who had a successful debut series. Notably, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl first on a track that has an average score of 166. The Indian team is also on a winning streak of 9 games and can beat the all-time record of 11 wins held by Afghanistan.

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