Indian team is scheduled to tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series, with the squad yet to be announced, Sanjay Manjrekar feels that the team touring the island nation should not be called India’s ‘second-string’ squad.

Senior players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and others will be going under quarantine and will be leaving for the UK after completing their quarantine for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand followed by a five-match Test series against England.

Despite this, Manjrekar feels that many of the possible members who might tour Sri Lanka are first-choice players in India's T20I team and hence this squad for the island tour must not be termed as the second-string team. 

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“If India were fielding two teams of same format you would call the team touring SL second string. A lot of players selected for the SL tour will walk into India's first choice T20 team. Team in England is for Tests. Team for SL is for T20s,” Manjrekar wrote on Twitter.

If India were fielding two teams of same format you would call the team touring SL second string. A lot of players selected for the SL tour will walk into India’s first choice T20 team. Team in England is for Tests. Team for SL is for T20s. ????#SLTour

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) May 21, 2021

India will be playing three-match ODI series and as many match T20I series against Sri Lanka in July this year. This series which was originally scheduled in June 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is rescheduled this year for the Sri Lankan cricket board to make up for the losses from last year.

Whereas the Indian Test team will be taking in Kane Williamson’s New Zealand in the WTC final scheduled from June 18 at Southampton followed by a Test series against England from August 4.

(With Hindustan Times inputs)