India will play 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs against Sri Lanka in July.
While Shikhar Dhawan was named captain and Bhuvneshwar Kumar named vice-captain, players like Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Hardik, and Krunal Pandya were included in the 20-man squad.
Apart from this, Indian Premier League (IPL) performers like Rahul Chahar, Nitish Rana, K Gowtham, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, and Chetan Sakariya were picked as well.
But there were some players who had done well in domestic cricket and even in IPL but failed to get a callup for the Indian team on their white-ball tour to Sri Lanka.
Therefore Team COC picks five such players who were unlucky not to get selected for the Sri Lanka tour.
Check out the 5 unlucky players not to get India call-up for the Sri Lanka white-ball tour
SHELDON JACKSON
"Which law says you can’t be picked for Indian team after the age of 30?" - Sheldon Jackson
Jackson has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit, scoring over 800 runs in the last two Ranji Trophy seasons. He has 5,634 runs in 76 First-Class matches at an average of 49.22. With the majority of first-choice Indian players on the tour of England, 34-year-old Jackson had high hopes of getting his maiden India call-up.
He had also scored 242 runs in 5 matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy recently for Puducherry with one century and one half-century at a strike-rate of 155.12. Hence Sheldon Jackson can call himself unlucky for not being on the flight to Sri Lanka.
SIDDHARTH KAUL
Siddharth Kaul feels he can be Virat Kohli's "lucky charm" in World Cup
Kaul, who was part of the India U19 team which won the Youth World Cup in 2008, has 54 wickets in 49 IPL matches as well at an economy of 8.58. He has been part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) team for the past few seasons but has picked 11 wickets in as many matches in the last three IPL editions.
Given the slow pitches in Sri Lanka, Kaul’s variety of bowling could have come in handy and the Punjab lad can call himself unlucky for not being picked for the Sri Lanka tour.
HARSHAL PATEL
He is a handy batsman as well and it was a huge surprise that he wasn’t picked for the Sri Lanka tour given that he could have been a great backup for Hardik Pandya and was in terrific form with the ball in the IPL, holding the purple cap currently.
DINESH KARTHIK
IPL 2021: Dinesh Karthik ready to lead KKR again; eyes the finisher's role in Indian team
Karthik feels he is still a contender for the middle order of the Indian team and can be utilized as a finisher, given that he was the one to win India the Nidahas Trophy by hitting a six off the last ball in the final against Bangladesh, the last time India toured Sri Lanka in 2018.
With India going for hard-hitting batsmen like K Gowtham, Hardik Pandya, and Krunal Pandya in the middle order, Karthik might need to have a blockbuster second half of the IPL 2021 to make selectors notice him for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
JAYDEV UNADKAT
Unadkat had done pretty well for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL and Saurashtra in the previous Ranji Trophy, picking 67 wickets, and was expecting the India call-up for the island tour given the first-choice pacers were away in England.
But alas, the selectors went for his RR teammate Chetan Sakariya, who impressed everyone with his ability with both the new and old ball in IPL 2021. Unadkat feeling disappointed by non-selection is pretty much justified given his previous performance.