Pandya to lead India in T20Is against Sri Lanka; Dhawan dropped for ODIs

After impressing in the series win in New Zealand, Hardik Pandya has been handed the India's T20I captaincy once again for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka in January.

The series will also see star batter Suryakumar Yadav elevated to the vice-captaincy and pacer Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar earning their maiden T20I call-ups. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant have been rested for the three matches on January 3,5 and 7.

Uttar Pradesh's Mavi, who was part of the 2018 Under-19 World Cup winning team, claimed 10 wickets from seven games in the 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and 14 wickets from seven matches in the 2022 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar, who recently featured for India A in the series against New Zealand A and also Rest of India in the Irani Cup, also was included in the squad following his consistent performances.

Keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, remains sidelined after last featuring the T20 World Cup, while Maharashtra batter Rahul Tripathi will hope to finally find a playing XI spot.

However, there were multiple surprises in the ODI squad which had no place for veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan and Pant while Pandya was elevated to the vice-captaincy despite KL Rahul's presence in the squad.

Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar retained their spots in the ODI squad led by Rohit Sharma.

India will begin the series with the T20Is in Mumbai, Pune and Rajkot followed by three ODIs in Guwahati (January 10), Kolkata (January 12) and Thiruvananthapuram (January 15).

India’s squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.

India’s squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.