BCCI announces India’s Test squad for Sri Lanka tour

Young Karnataka batsman KL Rahul, who missed the one-off Test in Bangladesh due to fever, has also been included in the team to be captained by Virat Kohli.

India team for Sri Lanka Tests: Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mishra, Varun Aaron, Harbhajan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav.

India last played Sri Lanka in a five-match One-Day global series in Novermber 2014. Team to depart on August 1 The departure of the team has been preponed by a couple of days.

But the selectors wanted a leggie in the squad after watching Sri Lanka struggle recently against Pakistan’s Yasir Shah, who took 24 wickets in a three-match series.

Mishra has 43 wickets from 13 Test matches but he has last donned whites for India way back in 2011 against England at the Oval, in which he excelled as a batsman with scores of 43 and 84 while going wicketless for 170 runs in 38 overs.

The fast bowling department will be manned by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron.

“Karn Sharma and Mohammed Shami are injured and hence were not considered for the Sri Lanka Tests”, chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said, explaining the reason for Sharma’s exclusion.

“Saha is the right option at this stage. Looking at his capability with batting, he should strike a balance”, Patil said. Thus, it will be interesting to see if the selectors go with the wish of the team management and name a leg spinner or they opt for a left-arm spinner instead. “It’s up to us to represent each and every player who plays and performs”, Patil reasoned. Dhoni did extremely well as Test captain.

“When Sachin Tendulkar, Dada (Sourav Ganguly) and VVS Laxman retired, we thought we will not get good replacements but we did”.

The opening test will be played in Galle from August 12-16 and will be followed by two in Colombo.