Mumbai: Regular India ODI captain Rohit Sharma is in all probability going to skip the three-match series against Sri Lanka. So, who becomes the interim captain for the series as reports suggest Hardik Pandya would not be available due to personal reasons? This answer is KL Rahul. Yes, Rahul has the experience of leading the ODI side and he has also worked with Gautam Gambhir in the Lucknow Super Giants set-up, and all these factors make him the most likely choice. The T20I and the ODI squads are likely to be announced today.
Meanwhile, Gambhir gave an emotional tribute to all the KKR fans through a two-minute and 30-second video on Tuesday as he embarks on a new journey with the Indian cricket team. Following his return to KKR for IPL 2024 as a mentor, the Kolkata-based franchise lifted their third IPL title, thus paving the way for Gambhir to be considered as the perfect fit to replace Rahul Dravid as the head coach of the Indian cricket team.
Notably, it was under Gambhir’s leadership, KKR won two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. Incidentally, the southpaw who was a part of two World Cup wins, couldn’t say No to an India job, thereby leaving his favourite IPL franchise after just one year in mentorship.
India’s probable 16-member ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour: Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Sanju Samson (wk), KL Rahul ( c ), Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Avesh Khan, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi
Players in the reserve list: Khaleel Ahmed, Riyan Parag and Harshit Rana
