SRI LANKA TOUR OF INDIA, 2017

Kohli rested for Sri Lanka ODIs, Rohit Sharma named skipper

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Rohit will captain the Indian ODI side in Kohli's absence © BCCI

Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper, has been rested for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, the BCCI announced on Monday (November 27). He will, however, captain the Test side for the third game of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma will take over as captain for the three 50-over games starting from December 10.

Kohli, who had recently spoken about India's workload management, is the only Indian player to have played in excess of 100 matches across international formats since January 2015. Kohli has played 113 matches in the said period while Dhoni, who retired from Test cricket in December 2014, has played 92 matches since.

Hardik Pandya, who was rested for the Sri Lanka Tests, is part of the ODI squad which includes one newcomer in 27-year-old Punjab pacer Siddarth Kaul. Kaul, who recently featured in two one-day games for India A against New Zealand A, bagged a couple of three-wicket hauls and was the joint third-highest wicket-taker in the tri-series in South Africa.

R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja yet again miss out on limited-overs selection with the MSK Prasad-led panel persisting with the trio of Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel. Also missing out from the squad that was selected for the New Zealand ODIs is Shardul Thakur while his Mumbai team-mate Shreyas Iyer finds a place in the team for the 50-over games against Sri Lanka. KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav, too, aren't part of the ODI set-up.

Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan, who missed the second Test against Sri Lanka in Nagpur owing to personal reasons, returns to the squad for the final Test in Delhi starting on December 2. Dhawan is the only addition to the squad that defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 239 runs. Uncapped all-rounder Vijay Shankar was retained for the final Test, as was Shami, who had missed the second Test due to a niggle.

India squad for the third Test:Virat Kohli (Captain), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-Captain), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar.

India squad for the ODI series:Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul.

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