New Delhi: Suryakumar Yadav Appointed India T20I Captain; Shubman Gill Named Vice-Captain

NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that star batter Suryakumar Yadav will replace Rohit Sharma as the new T20I captain.

Fresh from leading India to T20 World Cup triumph, Rohit Sharma will make a comeback for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, with Virat Kohli also making a return in the fifty-over format.

It may be noted that this is not the first time that the captaincy baton has been passed on to Suryakumar as he had previously led the T20I team during the away series against South Africa as then skipper Rohit Sharma was unavailable for selection following a gruelling ODI World Cup.

Hardik Pandya, who had fulfilled the role of India's vice-captain during the T20 World Cup, is also named in the T20I squad for this series.

It had been widely speculated that Hardik was not considered for the captain's role due to fitness-related concerns.

India's leading fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the tour while Shubman Gill was named the Indian vice-captain in both T20Is and ODIs for the Sri Lanka series.

Power-hitter Sanju Samson has also been included in the white-ball squad for the Sri Lanka tour. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, all-rounder Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, and Riyan Parag have all retained their places for the Sri Lanka T20I series.

However, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma, who impressed with the bat in the recently concluded T20I series against Zimbabwe, did not make it to the T20 squad for the Sri Lanka tour.

As far as the bowlers are concerned, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel made a return to T20Is, with Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar and Khaleel Ahmed all retaining their places from the Zimbabwe tour.

It is worth mentioning that the upcoming away series against Sri Lanka will mark Gautam Gambhir's first assignment as India's head coach. 

ALSO READ: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill make gains in T20I rankings

ALSO WATCH: