Shikhar's New Blues Vs Sri Lanka

 Sri Lankan Limited Cricket Mini Tour 

So after a last Super Sports  Sunday of Copa America, Wimbledon n Euro Cup ...ODI Sunday is here. With Tokyo Olympics due to start later next week.

Team India is already touring England for 5-Tests Series to commence from 4th August - Start of WTC 2 .So it's great to see that India's enriched bench strength ( thanks to India A tours,U-19 ,IPL exposure and the NCA guru - Rahul Dravid ) especially for limited overs white ball cricket is being tested.

Shikhar Dhawan is the leader, with Rahul Dravid as team coach. Bhuvneshwar Kumar - whom team India desperately missed for his excellent swing bowling abilities during WTC final last month - is designated as Vice Captain. It's a excellent chance for Hardik Pandya to test his bowling fitness. And great opportunity for team discards like Prithvi Shaw to knock the selection committee door. Fringe players..bit irregulars like Manish Pandey and Krunal Pandya along with some exciting stroke players - Opener Ruturaj Gaikawad, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson have also got a great stage to show their abilities in 3 ODIs n 3 T20s for next 10 odd days. It would be interesting to see if Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzavendra Chahal get to play together after a long time. The successful combination especially during mid overs 11 to 40 got broken after a great two year run in World Cup match verses England in 2019. Bowlers like Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar , New comers like Chetan Sakaria n Spinning youngsters - K Gowtham,Varun Chakravarthy are hoping to make their mark on tour. Let's see who can get the opportunity. As Dravid already made clear that few ones may not get a chance at all from this squad of 20.

Sri Lanka on the other hand is far from settled since last few years., especially after retirement  of the legendary Mahela Jaywardhane, Kumar Sangakara, Lasit Malinga yet to find a feet,  are on constantly loosing spree in ODI series. Having said that Sri Lanka is always dangerous in home conditions.

Let's hope that Covid doesn't interfere again and we are able to see some entertaining cricket in Colombo for next few days.

- Vivek Ketkar

#SLvIND