India to field a second string team against Sri Lanka in July

The BCCI yesterday announced that India will tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series comprising three ODIs and five T20Is in July. The Indian team will be in England at the same time thus it was expected that the BCCI will field a second-string side against Sri Lanka. The same was confirmed by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly earlier today.

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“We have planned a white ball series for the senior men’s team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and ODIs in Sri Lanka. Yes, it will be a team of white-ball specialists. It will be a different team,” Ganguly told PTI.

The Sri Lanka tour will be a great opportunity for fringe players including the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Chahar, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav to make a case for themselves for a place in the T20 World Cup squad. Also, senior pros like Shikhar Dhawan and Deepak Chahar are expected to make a cut into the team. The motive behind organizing the Sri Lanka tour was to get their fringe players match ready.

“Technically, in the month of July, there are no official senior India team matches. The Test squad will be playing intrasquad games. So there is no harm in India's white-ball experts getting some match time and selectors also get to fix the missing jigsaws in selection puzzle," a BCCI source said.

India were set to play Sri Lanka in three ODIs and five T20Is last year but the series was postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.