Former opener Gautam Gambhir replaced Rahul Dravid as the head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team last week. He will begin his tenure with the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka later this month.
Ahead of the team’s departure to Sri Lanka, the BCCI is set to formally unveil Gautam Gambhir as India's new head coach at a media conference.
According to a report published in TOI, the Indian contingent is expected to leave for Sri Lanka on July 22 from Mumbai and the pre-departure presser will be held on the same day.
Gambhir has been roped in by the BCCI with a lot of expectations after he mentored Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL title earlier this year.
India’s tour of Sri Lanka is slated to get underway with the three-match T20I series on July 27. It will be followed by an ODI series of three games.
Earlier this week, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee announced India’s white-ball squads for the Sri Lanka tour.
While Suryakumar Kumar was named the captain of the T20I team, Rohit Sharma was included in the squad to lead the ODI side. Shubman Gill has been made the designated vice-captain of both Surya and Rohit.
Before the announcement of the squads, there were speculations around who will lead the team in T20Is as Rohit announced his retirement from the shortest format after the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph last month.
Although all-rounder Hardik Pandya was the designated deputy of Rohit at the T20 World Cup, his injury issues reportedly had the selectors and the coach worried. Hence, Suryakumar was preferred for the leadership role. The T20I captain, however, did not find a place in the ODI squad.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were reportedly convinced by the BCCI to make themselves available for the 50-over series, considering that there are not many ODIs scheduled before the Champions Trophy 2025.
India’s T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Akshar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj
India’s ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Akshar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
