Three Indian players who might get benched for entire T20I series against Sri Lanka

India will play a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka from July 27 to July 30.

After lifting the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados on June 29, Indian cricket team played a five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe with fresh faces and won the series 4-1. After the Zimbabwe tour, India’s next international assignment will be white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, where they will play three T20Is and as many ODIs on the tour.

The Indian side will play a three-match T20I series starting on July 27, followed by the second game on July 28, and the final T20I on July 30.

The T20I series between the two sides will be played at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele. After the end of the T20I series, India and Sri Lanka will play a three-game ODI series from August 2 to August 7 in Colombo.

A few days ago, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squads for the upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka. Surprisingly, Suryakumar Yadav was named as the skipper for the T20I series, whereas Shubman Gill will be the vice-captain of both ODIs and T20Is. Rohit Sharma will lead in ODIs.

The T20I squad consists of experienced stars as well as a few newcomers as well. As it is a three-match series and India already have a fixed set of players, who have already made a place in the starting XI in T20Is, a few players might not find a place in the playing XI in all three games against Sri Lanka. On that note, let’s take a look at three players who might warm the bench in the entire T20I series.

Here are three Indian players who might get benched in entire T20I series against Sri Lanka:

1. Riyan Parag

After having a spectacular Indian Premier League 2024 season for the Rajasthan Royals, Assam cricketer Riyan Parag earned his maiden T20I call-up for the Indian national side during the recently-concluded five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.

However, Parag failed to impress with the bat in the series. The right-handed batter scored just 24 runs in three outings at an average of 12.00. Even after not scoring much against Zimbabwe, the BCCI selection committee added him to the T20I squad for Sri Lanka series.

Surprisingly, Parag might be benched for the whole T20I series as India already have a lot of other options in middle-order like Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Hardik Pandya.

2. Khaleel Ahmed

India left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed was included in the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. Sadly, Khaleel couldn’t do much with the ball in the five-match T20I series. The left-arm pacer played three matches and scalped only three wickets at an average of 21.00.

Despite that, the BCCI selectors named him in the squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. But it is unlikely that Khaleel will get a spot in the playing XI.

With Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh returning to the T20I side and Sri Lankan pitches offering more spin, India might go with three spinners and two front-line pacers and Hardik Pandya as the third pace-bowling option.

3. Sanju Samson

India wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson was named in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 squad. However, the star cricketer couldn’t play any game as Rishabh Pant was picked ahead of him as the first choice wicket-keeper.

After winning the T20 World Cup 2024, the selection committee named Samson in the T20I squad for the Zimbabwe series. After missing the first two matches, Samson replaced Dhruv Jurel in the playing XI and played the rest of the three T20I games against Zimbabwe.

The wicket-keeper batter had good outing with the bat, where he scored 70 runs, including a fifty, which came in the fifth T20I.

Samson was then picked for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Sadly, Samson might be benched for the entire series yet again as the first-choice wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant is back into the mix.

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