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India are slated to play 3 ODIs and as many T20Is against Sri Lanka in the island nation in the month of July. Given that the senior men’s team will be in England for their five-match Test series against the Englishmen around the same time period, the Sri Lanka tour will see many young faces going to play in the island nation. However, the squad for the same has not been announced yet and the list of touring players is expected to be released by the end of May.
It is worth noting that head coach Ravi Shastri, Bharat Arun and Vikram Rathore will also be with the senior Indian contingent in England. And, in that case, India needed a different coach for their tour of Sri Lanka. Now, a BCCI official has confirmed ANI that cricket legend Rahul Dravid will guide the India side as the head coach during the tour.
Rahul, who is the director of cricket operations at National Cricket Academy since 2019, is often credit for shaping the careers of young Indian players as he has also worked as the coach of India ‘A’ and India U-19 teams.
India’s tour of Sri Lanka
India will start their outing to Sri Lanka with the ODI series that kicks off on July 13 with rest two matches being played on July 16 and 19. All the one-dayers will start at 1:30 pm IST. The two sides will then shift toward the shortest format which begins on July 22. The rest of the games are scheduled to be played on July 24 and 27. These matches will start at 7:00 pm IST.
Talking about the ranking of the two teams, India are at the 3rd spot in ODIs while Sri Lanka take the 9th position. In T20Is, India take the number 2 spot, below England. Meanwhile, the Lankans are ranked 8th in the table.
Meanwhile, the senior Indian team will face New Zealand in the final of World Test Championship, slated to take place between June 18 and 22 at the The Rose Bowl, Southampton. Virat Kohli and company will then play against England in the five-match Test series staring August 4.