Rahul Dravid weighs in on having two Indian teams and simultaneous tours ahead of SL visit

The Indian team is all set to feature a different set of players for upcoming India's tour of Sri Lanka 2021 since the Virat Kohli-led Test squad will continue with its England tour featuring 5 Test matches against England. Fans are wondering whether team India would go ahead with the structure of featuring different squads for different formats of the game since the idea was given consideration by Virat Kohli and Head coach Ravi Shastri. However, former Indian captain Rahul Dravid has weighed in on the possibility of having different squads ahead of the IND vs SL 2021 series.

Rahul Dravid weighs in on having different squads for team India

While speaking in a virtual press conference on Sunday, Rahul Dravid said that he was not really sure if having different squads was a long term solution. He added that there are a lot of stakeholders, going to involve boards, sponsors, media rights and so much that goes into all of this. Although, he accepted that in the short term, this will ease the pressure as it is getting difficult for the same set of players to go through all the restrictions that are there currently.

However, Rahul Dravid felt that in the long term, it will need a lot more discussion. He further added that the current situation is a unique one with quarantines and stuff and it is very hard to predict what is going to happen even on a month on month basis. He also said that at this point in time, when travel between countries is a challenge, at least in the short term, something like this might had to be followed and India probably had no option but to do this.

Ravi Shastri gives his take ahead of IND vs SL 2021 series

Indian Head coach Ravi Shastri had also given his take on having different squads in the coming time. Ravi Shastri had said that at the moment, it was happening because of the current situation and restrictions on travel and things of that sort. He further said that in the future if they want to expand the game, especially in the shorter formats, then it could be the way to go.

India vs Sri Lanka schedule

India's tour of Sri Lanka 2021 will feature 3 ODI matches and 3 T20I matches. The India squad for Sri Lanka consists of a completely separate squad of Indian players including players with noteworthy performances in the IPL 2021 season. The ODI matches in the Sri Lanka tour are scheduled to take place on July 13, 16 and 18. The T20I matches will take place on July 21, 23 and 25. All the 6 matches in India vs Sri Lanka schedule will take place at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.

India squad for Sri Lanka: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (VC), P Shaw, D Padikkal, R Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, M Pandey, H Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (WK), S Samson (WK), Y Chahal, R Chahar, K Gowtham, K Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, V Chakravarthy, D Chahar, N Saini, C Sakariya

Image Source: PTI