2nd T20I: Padikkal, Rana, Gaikwad and Sakarya are on the list of 4 debutants for India
Led by Shikhar Dhawan, India, hit by Covid-19 on Wednesday, made its debut with four players in the 2nd T20I match against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The match had been postponed by a day after India’s allrounder Krunal Pandya tested positive for Covid-19.
Eight squad members identified as close contacts have been isolated, giving debut T20 caps to Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya.
Sri Lanka has rested Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Ashen Bandara and called in batsman Sadeera Samarawickrama and newcomer Ramesh Mendisr.
India leads the three-match series 1-0 with a win in the first game last Sunday.
The players missing out are, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Manish Pandey, Prithvi Shaw, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar and Krishnappa Gowtham.
India’s stand-in skipper Shikhar Dhawan said on the Toss: “We would have batted first, so I’m happy with it. There are four debutants. Lots of changes due to obvious reasons. We’re all looking forward to this. We’re street-fighters and ready to face the challenges. Our main players aren’t here, but that gives the chance to the younger players. They have created great energy for the last 45 days, and I’m glad they have got their chances. These things can happen in the current scenario, that’s why we brought a large squad.”
Five net bowlers added to the squad
Based on the request of the Indian team management in Sri Lanka, the All-India Senior Selection Committee has named additions to India’s squad for the second and third T20Is.
The five net bowlers Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, R Sai Kishore and Simarjeet Singh – will now be part of the squad for the remaining T20Is.
Squad and availability updates for the 2 T20Is
After Krunal Pandya was tested positive for COVID-19 on July 27th, all members of the team and support staff were immediately isolated and tested as a safety measure. The test results for everyone including the eight identified close contacts of Krunal returned negative.
Following the test on 27th July, a Rapid Antigen test was also conducted today (28th July) at noon and they have all returned negative results.
However, to ensure health and safety of the squad, the 8 close contacts will continue to remain in isolation in the team hotel.
Playing XI
India: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (wk), Nitish Rana, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Chahar, 9Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya, Varun Chakravarthy.
Sri Lanka: Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Ramesh Mendis, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana, Dushmantha Chameera, Akila Dananjaya.
