India tour to Sri Lanka 2021 [Preview]

India is scheduled to tour Sri Lanka in the month of July to play three ODIs and three T20Is, starting from 13^th July at R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

The home side is currently playing one-day series in England and is expected to be back in the county by this week. On the other hand, Indian team led by Shikhar Dhawan has arrived in Sri Lanka and going through mandatory quarantine period before they resume training for the ODI series.

BCCI have announced the ODI and T20I squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. Rahul Dravid will be interim coach for the side for this tour.

After doing well in the Indian Premier League, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ishan Kishan, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Chahar, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya are uncapped players included in the ODI squad.

For India, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are premier pace options, while Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are frontline spinners for the ODI and T20I series.

In the batting department, the onus will be on the experienced captain and opener Shikhar Dhawan, rookie Prithvi Shaw, middle-order duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Manish Pandey to deliver the bulk of the runs.

Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya will be two genuine all-rounders for the side for the ODI and T20I series.

Since Jan 2020, Shikhar Dhawan has been in excellent form with the bat and accumulated 459 runs at an average of 57.57 with five half-centuries to his name.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya has been a consistent performer with the bat in white-ball cricket. In past 12 months, Pandya has scored 310 runs in six outings at an average of 62.00 with three half-centuries to his name.

Despite not doing so well in the IPL, Suryakumar Yadav is still an important player in white-ball cricket for India for the foreseeable future. His Mumbai colleague, Ishan Kishan, is another player, who will be keen to make an impact in his debut ODI series for India.

In the bowling department, the experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the pace attack for the ODI and T20I series.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka will certainly looking to make wholesale changes to their squad for the home series against India.

Captain Kusal Perera is expected to lead the side after doing well for the side during England series. Left-hander will be hoping that the others players can start taking responsibility and deliver runs with the bat in the 50-over format.

In the batting department, the side will be relying on the likes of Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva to deliver the bulk of the runs.

In the bowling department, the onus will be on the likes of Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan and Dushmantha Chameera to deliver timely breakthroughs.

Dhananjaya Lakshan, Binura Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama and Ramesh Mendis are other bowling options for the Islanders for the ODI and T20I series against India.

Given that Sri Lanka’s endless struggles in white-ball cricket, India will be firm favorites for the ODI and T20I series.