Takeaways from India's SL squad

Gautam Gambhir's stint as India head coach has already begun on an eventful note. Several surprises have headlined the two squads named for the T20Is and ODIs.

India's ODI and T20I squads for Sri Lanka tour

ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.

T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammad Siraj.

Key takeaways from India's squads

Hardik Pandya not even considered for vice-captaincy

Pandya, who took over the Mumbai Indians captaincy from then T20I captain Rohit Sharma earlier this year, and was widely expected to take over from him after his retirement from the format, has now been completely sidelined from the leadership race.

Suryakumar Yadav, who first came into recognition under Gambhir at KKR, and was also his vice-captain in the IPL, has been named the new T20I skipper of India, with Shubman Gill as his deputy. Pandya has been named in the T20I squad, but neither as a captain nor vice-captain.

This also marks the beginning of the dual white-ball captaincy era in Indian (men's) cricket.

Rahul vs Pant: Who keeps in ODIs?

India have named a full-strength batting lineup for the ODIs, with seniors Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both making themselves available. Shreyas Iyer is also back, and so are KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant.

Pant last played an ODI in November 2022, before his accident. Since then, Rahul cemented his place as the first-choice ODI wicketkeeper and No.5. Now that Pant is back, what India do with him and their batting order will be interesting to see. Pant has a good ODI record, and is considered to be an X-factor player by the India management, making it difficult to leave him out of the XI.

However, for him to bat in the top five, one of the five incumbent batters among Rohit, Gill, Kohli, Rahul, and Iyer will have to make way. The other option would be to play Pant at six, which would mean going in with only five bowling options, making the move highly unlikely.

Testing new all-rounders for ODIs

Ravindra Jadeja does not feature in the ODI squad, raising questions if India has moved on from him in white-ball cricket. There's been no official update and it could also be a case of resting the all-rounder before the upcoming home Test season.

Whatever the case, the selection of several relatively new all-rounders in the ODI squad indicates that India are looking to build depth in this department for the future.

Riyan Parag has been picked in ODIs for the first time. Shivam Dube, a like-for-like replacement for Pandya who has skipped the ODIs, has only played one game in the format for India, while Washington Sundar has appeared in only 19 ODIs. With Axar Patel set to be the No.7, there's a good chance that at least two out of Parag, Dube, and Sundar will feature in the XI on either side of Axar in the batting order.

Harshit Rana picked over other experienced quicks

Harshit Rana, the KKR seamer who impressed in IPL 2024, has received a maiden ODI call-up after being named for the Zimbabwe T20Is earlier this month.

Rana is part of a four-man fast bowling attack that includes Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, and Khaleel Ahmed. He has leapfrogged the likes of Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar, who have been in the ODI setup lately, having played five and six games respectively since 2023.

Also read: Harshit Rana interview: I have put pressure on myself to excel in various situation

Rana has impressive List A numbers, although the sample size is small. From 14 games he has taken 22 wickets at an economy of 5.54. What sets him apart though, is that he can wield the long handle lower down the order, as suggested by his highest score of 122 in first-class cricket. Not many Indian fast bowlers can boast of that ability with the bat, which might have helped him find a spot as India look to work on their batting depth in white-ball cricket.

No Samson, Rinku in ODIs; no Abhishek, Chahal in T20Is

There have been several surprise omissions across both the squads. Sanju Samson, who scored a hundred in the last ODI that India played (in South Africa in December last year), has been dropped from the 50-over squad. In fact, only five players from the team that played the ODIs in South Africa have made it for the Sri Lanka ODIs - Rahul, Axar, Sundar, Arshdeep, Kuldeep Yadav.

In T20Is, Abhishek Sharma, who scored a record hundred a few weeks back in Zimbabwe, has not found a place. Yuzvendra Chahal, who was part of India's T20 World Cup winning squad has been dropped as well, indicating a potential end of the road for him in international cricket.

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