The tour of Sri Lanka is the first assignment for Gambhir since taking over from Rahul Dravid as the head coach. Dravid’s tenure ended in June after the T20 World Cup, where India won the title by defeating South Africa in a thrilling final in Barbados.Following that, the BCCI appointed Gambhir as head coach.
The team is expected to leave for Sri Lanka on July 22 from Mumbai and the pre-departure press conference will likely be held on the same day.
India’s Sri Lanka tour begins with a three-match T20I series on July 27. It will be followed by an ODI series of three matches to conclude the tour.
The selection committee announced the white-ball squads earlier this week, with Suryakumar Yadav as the captain for T20Is and Rohit Sharma for the ODIs.
Rohit and Virat Kohli, both of who retired from the T20Is after the T20 World Cup last month, were earlier reportedly unavailable for the ODIs; but the legendary duo was eventually named among the squad for 50-over leg of the tour.
Before the announcement of the squads, there were speculations around who will lead the team in T20Is as Rohit was no longer available having quit T20Is.
After multiple reports of Gambhir in favour of Surya and the BCCI secreatary backing Hardik Pandya, it was Surya who was named as the skipper in the shortest format.
Surya, however, did not find a place in the ODI squad.
Rohit and Virat were reportedly persuaded by the cricket board to make themselves available considering the ICC Champions Trophy scheduled for February-March next year and not many ODIs lined up for India before that.
