IND vs SL: Hardik Pandya May Lead T20I Team In Rohit Sharma's Absence, KL Rahul's T20I Days Numbered – Reports

According to a PTI report, Hardik Pandya may be named as the captain of the Indian T20I team for the upcoming T20I series against the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team and KL Rahul may be dropped.

The Sri Lanka tour of India 2023 will consist of a six-match limited-overs series that includes three ODIs and three T20Is. The complete series will be played in January 2023 and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to organize the games across six different venues.

IPL 2023 | India tour of Bangladesh 2022 | Dream11 Prediction | Fantasy Cricket Tips | Cricket Match Prediction Today | Cricket News | Cricket Live Score | Sri Lanka tour of India 2023 | New Zealand tour of India 2023

The T20Is will be played on January 3, 5 and 7 in Mumbai, Pune and Rajkot respectively. Meanwhile, the ODIs will be played on January 10, 12, and 15 in Guwahati Kolkata, and Trivandrum respectively.

The outgoing selection committee led by Chetan Sharma will be picking the squads for the forthcoming series against Sri Lanka. Also, the interviews of the short-listed candidates to pick the selection committee members by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) will reportedly happen between December 26 and 28.

IPL 2023 Auction | IND vs BAN 2022 | India vs Bangladesh 2022 | India National Cricket Team | IND vs SL 2023 | India vs Sri Lanka 2023 | IND vs NZ 2023 | India vs New Zealand 2023

“The old committee will probably select the Sri Lanka white ball squad,” a BCCI source privy to the development told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Hardik Pandya will lead the side. As far as KL Rahul is concerned, his T20I days seem to be numbered – BCCI source

A BCCI source said that captain Rohit’s thumb injury, which he sustained during the second ODI against Bangladesh, may rule him out of the Sri Lanka T20Is and Hardik may be named as the captain of the side. The source also said that the T20I days of the out-of-form opening batsman KL Rahul are numbered.

“As of now, it doesn’t look like Rohit Sharma’s finger will heal enough before the T20Is and in that case, Hardik will lead the side. As far as KL Rahul is concerned, his T20I days seem to be numbered,” the source said.

Also, Virat Kohli might be rested for the T20I series against Sri Lanka and there is a high possibility of the team comprising only specialist players.

On Friday, November 18, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to sack the entire senior men’s selection committee, which was led by Chetan Sharma and the process to build a new selection committee has taken a bit longer than expected.

“Chetan and his committee are still watching domestic cricket. They watched the full Vijay Hazare Trophy and also the first two rounds of the Ranji Trophy. Debasish Mohanty was present at Eden Gardens to watch Bengal vs Himachal Pradesh. Basically, they got a two-month extension till December 25,” the official said.

Also Read: IND vs BAN: “KL Rahul Will Definitely Start The Australian Series, And If Things Don’t Go Well There….” – Dinesh Karthik

Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah