Tuesday saw the release of the Indian limited-overs teams for the three-match series against Sri Lanka. Hardik Pandya was chosen captain of the T20I team. The top three players, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul, were not included in the T20I team, although Rohit Sharma will be back for ODIs. Prithvi Shaw is still missing from the international lineup, along with Rishabh Pant, who was also conspicuously absent from both selections.
The youthful opener last appeared for India in a T20I match against Sri Lanka in July 2021; since then, he has consistently performed for Mumbai in domestic cricket. Shaw demonstrated his explosive ability in the 2022 Indian Premier League by hitting 283 runs in 10 innings for the Delhi Capitals at a strike rate of 152.97. However, Shaw’s chances of making an international comeback remained slim. After the youthful opener missed the India squad once more, he revealed a mysterious story on his official Instagram account.
The poem “Kisi ne muft me paa liya vo shakhs, jo mujhe har keemat pe chahiye tha” by Uzair Hijazi was used in an Instagram reel that was part of the story (Rough translation: The one I needed the most, someone got them for free) and also he evacuated his Profile picture from Instagram, fans became sad for him and claiming BCCI responsibility for this.
Beginning January 3, India will host Sri Lanka for three T20Is and three ODIs. Pandya will resume his duties as T20I captain for the second straight series; he previously led India to a series victory against New Zealand in November.
Pandya, who led the Gujarat Titans to the Indian Premier League championship in their inaugural season this year, will also serve as vice-captain for the ODI series in place of Rohit Sharma. Rohit’s former format backup was KL Rahul. Shikhar Dhawan also lost his spot in the team after leading India in the ODI series against New Zealand in November.
Rohit missed this month’s Test series against Bangladesh since he injured his thumb during the ODI matches before that.