Suryakumar Yadav retorts to Ranatunga's 'second-string side' jibe, says 'India is focused'

As Shikhar Dhawan & Co. are all set to take on Sri Lanka in the limited-overs format, batsman Suryakumar Yadav has responded to Sri Lanka's veteran Arjuna Ranatunga's 'second-string' squad remark. Recently, former Sri Lanlkan cricketer Arjuna Ranatunga slammed the Sri Lanka Cricket Board for agreeing to host a 'second-string Indian team' in a white-ball series, claiming that it was nothing short of an 'insult'.

Now, India's Suryakumar Yadav on Tuesday responded to the Sri Lankan veteran's remark and said that the players are not paying heed to the field comments and remain focused on the positives.

"Not really [thinking about being a squad of non-first-choice players]. Everyone is completely focused. The way the practice sessions are going, the way the [intra-squad] game went yesterday, it’s going completely fine and we’re really excited about the challenge. We’re just here to have some fun, enjoy this series completely, and take a lot of positives from here," said Suryakumar Yadav. 

Sri Lanka's Cricket response on Arjuna Ranatunga's remark

Following Ranatunga's remark, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in its official press release had stated that the "National White-Ball team of India currently touring Sri Lanka is a strong squad." It further added that "out of the 20-member India squad, 14 players have represented India across all formats or in some form". Therefore, they are not a 'second-string team' as claimed. 

"It also should be mentioned that this tour is taking place, whilst the National Test Team of India is touring England to play a 05 match test series, vs England," added Sri Lanka Cricket. 

"This is the latest norm in the cricketing world, especially the full ICC Member countries, as they maintain specialist squads and players for each format of the game. The aim of such arrangements is to be competitive in each format of the game by maintaining specialist players and squads. Apart from it, maintaining separate squads enable cricketing boards to fulfill their international commitments unhindered, such as the ICC Future Tours Program,' added Sri Lanka Cricket.

India vs Sri Lanka series

With the full-strength Indian squad in the United Kingdom for a three-and-a-half-month long tour, the BCCI has sent a team of white-ball specialists for a limited-overs bilateral series against Sri Lanka starting July 13 where the Men In Blue are scheduled to play three ODIs and as many T20Is. India will be led by opener Shikhar Dhawan while pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has been named his deputy for that particular series. Former skipper and National Cricket Academy (NCA) chief Rahul Dravid will be the head coach for this bilateral white-ball series.

India's Full Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya

(Image Credits: Arjuna.Ranatunga/Surya_14Kumar/Instagram)