Rohit Sharma named skipper,as kohli rested for Srilanka ODI series

Indian skipper, Virat Kohli will be rested for the ODI series against Sri Lanka.Rohit Sharma, who made a century in the second test, was earlier announced as vice-captain of the ODI side and will now get a chance to lead the side.Hardik Pandya, India’s new sensation returns to the squad to fill up the all-rounder position after enjoying a break during test series.

Since IPL, Kohli has been consistently playing cricket without taking a break.He is the only Indian player to have played in excess of 100 International matches since January 2015.Ahead of the Test series against Lanka, Virat said:”Definitely I do need a rest..why not?I’ll ask for it when I feel my body needs to take a break from cricket.I am not a robot, you can slice my skin and check, I bleed”.(Even Superheroes like Superman bleeds, then why not a human).Jokes apart, the leading run-getter in International cricket in 2017 will finally get a much-needed break.

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit will be the regular openers.Also, Rahane gets a chance as a third opener owing to his splendid performance in the recently concluded ODI series against Australia and New Zealand.The middle-order is strongly balanced by limited- overs regulars Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni & the likes of  Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav as well.

Young Turk Shreyas Iyer gets another opportunity to impress the selectors & Siddharth Kaul also earns his maiden ODI call-up.Ashwin & Jadeja yet again miss out to make to the squad with MSK-Prasad led panel feeling happy with the trio of Chahal, Kuldeep & Axar .Bhuvaneshwar Kumar & Jasprit Bumrah will be the pace spearheads as usual.Rahul, Shami&Umesh were the others to miss out on selection.

India will play three ODI’s & three T20’s against Sri Lanka before travelling to South Africa.However, the first and second ODI, which was supposed to start at 1:30 PM will start at 11;30 AM due to the prevailing cold weather in Dharamsala & Mohali.

ODI squad:Rohit Sharma(captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni(wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah,Bhuvaneshwar Kumar,Yuzvendra Chahal,Siddharth kaul.