Sourav Ganguly confirms India will tour Sri Lanka in July sans Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has affirmed that Team India will tour Sri Lanka in July for a limited-overs bilateral series. The tour of the island nation which is expected to clash with the Test series against England will take place without the presence of top players including skipper Virat Kohli and his limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma. Consequently, the BCCI President has confirmed that a 'white ball specialist' team will be fielded against Sri Lanka, excluding several all-format players that will be in England for the Test series. 

"We have planned a white ball series for the senior men's team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and ODIs in Sri Lanka," Ganguly told PTI in an interaction.

The BCCI President has hinted that the team will be picked in an attempt to sort out the selection puzzles ahead of the T20 World Cup, slated to be held in India later this year. At least 5 T20 Internationals and three ODIs are expected to be hosted by Sri Lanka in the coming month of July. 

India's prep for World Cup

India's tour of England will end on September 14 and with the schedule of the remainder of IPL yet to be chalked out, the BCCI would want the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal to be match ready with the World Cup set to begin in October. 

"The BCCI president is very keen that all our top players are match ready and since England doesn't have a white ball leg the month of July can be utilized well," a BCCI source told PTI while explaining the logic behind the tour.

"Technically, in the month of July, there are no official senior India team matches. The Test squad will be playing intrasquad games. So there is no harm in India's white-ball experts getting some match time and selectors also get to fix the missing jigsaws in selection puzzle," the source added. 

With mainstay players out of the fray, the board could hand debuts to budding IPL stars Devdutt Padikkal, Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Tewatia. Shreyas Iyer might also be included in the squad, if he gets fit to play by then. Prithvi Shaw's international career could get a boost with this white ball tournament, with Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan also getting a chance to stake their claims.

BCCI announces squad for WTC final

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced a 20-man squad for the upcoming World Test Championship and India tour of England. Team India’s first stop will be in Southampton where they play New Zealand to decide the first champion of the Test format. Following their 3-1 win against England at home, India finished as the No. 1 side with 72.2 percentage points and booked their place in the final. The Indian team is scheduled to play the World Test Championship final against New Zealand at Southampton from June 18-22 before taking on England in a five-Test series.

India’s squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul (subject to fitness clearance), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper; subject to fitness clearance).