New India coach Gautam Gambhir began his first practice session on Wednesday, ahead of the first T20I against Sri Lanka at Pallekele.
_title -->The Indian team arrived in Colombo on Monday, ahead of the Suryakumar Yadav-led team, before making a short trip to Pallekele in the Central Province.
India and Sri Lanka will play three T20Is in the city, followed by as many ODIs in Colombo. After captain Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the T20I format, Suryakumar was elevated to the lead role for the three-match series.
Rohit will join the ODI squad, along with Virat Kohli, who also announced his retirement from the shortest format of the game.
Ahead of the first match of the series, the BCCI shared a video of India’s first practice session at Pallekele on its official X account. “Coach Gautam Gambhir takes charge!”, was the BCCI headline.
In the video, Gambhir is seen watching the players closely and giving some valuable batting tips to batsman and wicketkeeper Sanju Samson. @indiancricketteam
Before leaving for the island nation, Gambhir held his first press conference with chief selector Ajit Agarkar, who revealed the reason behind appointing Suryakumar as T20I captain over all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
“He IS one of the deserving candidates. He is one of the best T20 batsmen in the world. We wanted a captain who could play every match. We’ll see how he does,” Agarkar told reporters.
“For Hardik, he’s still a very important player. And that’s what we want it to be. Fitness has been a challenge for him in recent years…
Then it becomes difficult for the coach or the selectors. “I believe Surya has the qualities needed to succeed as a captain,” he added.
The first T20I between India and Sri Lanka will be played on Saturday in Pallekele. Equipo India T20I: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Hubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.
