India coach Rahul Dravid for the upcoming series vs Sri Lanka has said that no tour is a life and death situation, adding that the selectors will “definitely” focus on the performance of the youngsters.
Youngsters like Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad would be extremely keen to put up a good show in the team but will they be picked, said the former India captain and the current head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). It is up to the selectors for the T20 World Cup to be held in October.
“For many people other than Prithvi and someone like Devdutt Padikkal or Ruturaj Gaikwad, a lot of little boys will be extremely eager to do well. Whether they are called up for the T20 World Cup, the selectors have to take it for sure. Obviously a good show against international opponents will help.
If you can do well at this level, the selectors will definitely look into it. No tour is a life and death situation; It’s not just because you do well against Sri Lanka, you’ll make it, or vice versa. But performing under the pressure of international cricket, the selectors will definitely take note,” Dravid said during the press conference before the team left.
Many players are fighting for places but the main goal is to win the series.
Rahul Dravid, who has worked with almost all the youngsters in the 20-man squad, also knows that many players want to cement a permanent spot in India’s limited-overs team. However, he insisted that the primary goal of everyone in the team is to win two white-ball series.
There are many people in the team who are trying to make or cement their place in the T20 World Cup. But the main goal of everyone in the team is to try and win the series. That is the primary objective. Hopefully people will get a chance to do well and knock on the doors of the selectors while winning the series.
A total of six new players have been added to the squad – Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Krishnappa Gautam, Chetan Sakaria, Varun Chakravarthy and Nitish Rana.
Senior opener Shikhar Dhawan will lead the team in 6 white-ball matches (3 ODIs and 3 T20Is). Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been appointed as Dhawan’s deputy for the short tour.
One-day matches will be played on July 13, 16 and 18 and T20 matches on July 21, 23 and 25.
Notably, the Virat Kohli-led Indian Test team is currently in England and is now gearing up for a 5-Test series against England from August 4.
Indian team for Sri Lanka tour: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Rituraj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gautam, Kunal Pandya , Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (VC), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakaria
Net Bowler: Ishaan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjit Singh