A lot of senior players will be unavailable due to WTC final and England tour.
Former India wicket-keeper batsman Deep Dasgupta feels Shikhar Dhawan or Bhuvneshwar Kumar might lead the Men in Blue in the island nation.
“Obviously, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul are not available. The senior-most player available in that side is Shikhar, so Shikhar (captaincy option) I guess,” the former India cricketer said.
“One of the questions was 'who do I see captaining the side?', I mentioned Shikhar, let's not forget, if Bhuvneshwar is fit and ready to play, he is a good captain candidate as well for that series,” he added.
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As the senior players will be traveling to the UK for the final of the World Test Championship followed by a five-match Test series against England. Since the opening batsman and the right arm quick are not in the 20-man squad announced by BCCI, the duo might be seen in Sri Lanka.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar not being in the squad leaving for England raised a lot of eyebrows, the 43-year-old felt it was the way to go since Kumar has not played red-ball cricket in a while.
“I am not surprised. They have already got 6 fast bowlers (for England tour). I understand that those conditions might help Bhuvneshwar but he has not played red-ball cricket for 2 to 2 and half years. And he has struggled with his fitness post-2018,” Dasgupta said.
“He hasn't played red-ball cricket in Ranji Trophy as well. Also, I have a feeling that they had an idea that the Sri Lanka series might be there, you have someone like Bhuvneshwar there. You need some senior players,” he signed off.
(With India Today inputs)