India's tour of Sri Lanka 2024: 3 surprising exclusions made in T20I squad

Suryakumar Yadav will lead the T20I side in India’s tour of Sri Lanka this year.

The Indian team will tour Sri Lanka for their next international assignment, where they will play three ODIs and three T20Is. The Ajit Agarkar-led Indian selection committee announced squads for India’s tour of Sri Lanka. Suryakumar Yadav has been given the responsibility of T20I captaincy, while Rohit Sharma will lead the ODI team.

Shubman Gill will be vice-captain for both squads. Some players who played in the Zimbabwe T20Is have retained their places, but others were not fortunate enough. There have been a few notable omissions which are not digestible among the fans. In this article, we will talk about three surprising omissions from the T20I squads.

3 surprising exclusions made in T20I squad in India’s tour of Sri Lanka 2024

1. Abhishek Sharma

Abhishek Sharma made it to the scene after a powerpacked performance in the IPL 2024. He then showed it in the second T20I against Zimbabwe, where he smashed a 46-ball ton. Abhishek showed that he could be a potential opener that the team is looking for in T20Is. He also picked a couple of wickets in the series and showed his potential with the ball as well. But, despite a decent start to his T20I career, he has been axed from the team for Sri Lanka tour. Abhishek’s omission from India’s tour of Sri Lanka has certainly raised some eyebrows.

2. Ruturaj Gaikwad

How unlucky would you feel if you have scored most runs in the IPL since 2021 and highest average in T20Is (51.75) since 2023 with a strike rate of almost 150, and still you get dropped from India’s T20I side?. Well, not just Ruturaj Gaikwad, even fans were shocked to see him getting dropped from the T20I squad.

In the recently-concluded tour of Zimbabwe, he scored 133 runs in just three innings and almost outperformed Shubman Gill. But, despite that, Gaikwad couldn’t retain his place because India had gone with Gill and Jaiswal as their openers. It is a bit harsh with Gaikwad, but that’s the level of competition in the Indian team.

3. Kuldeep Yadav

The pitches in Sri Lanka are helpful for spinners, and you certainly want your best spinner in the team. But, India have left out Kuldeep Yadav from T20Is and gone with Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar.

Kuldeep was one of the top performers for India at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. He took ten wickets in just five matches at an economy rate of 6.95. But surprisingly, he is not part of India’s tour of Sri Lanka for the T20I leg. Kuldeep will roll his arm over in ODIs.

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