The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah has confirmed that former India skipper Rahul Dravid will coach the team for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka. The Shikhar Dhawan-led team will play three ODIs and three T20Is at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
“Rahul will be coaching the team for the Sri Lanka series,” the BCCI Secretary told ANI.
ANI had reported on May 20 that NCA head Dravid will coach the team as the trio of Ravi Shastri, Bharat Arun and Vikram Rathour are in England with the Test team. This will be Dravid’s second stint with the Indian team after working with the boys as batting consultant during the England tour in 2014.
The team leaves for Colombo on June 28 and will undergo 3 days of hard quarantine before training in quarantine till July 4. After that, they will be allowed to train normally before the series gets underway on July 13 in Colombo.
The team will play three intra-squad games in Colombo as preparation for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.
Prithvi Shaw has earned a call-up into the white-ball squad. Opening batters Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have also been named in the squad. Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham have been chosen as the spinners while the young speedster Chetan Sakariya, who impressed everyone in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has also earned a place in the squad.
The schedule for the three-match ODI series and three-match T20I series between India and Sri Lanka was confirmed last week. The three ODIs will be played on July 13, 16, and 18. While the T20I series will commence on July 21, and the next two matches will be played on July 23 and 25.
