New Delhi, July 11
India will play three T20 Internationals and as many ODIs during their tour to Sri Lanka across July and August, and the matches will be played at Pallekele and Colombo, the BCCI announced on Thursday.
The white-ball tour will kick off with the T20Is (July 26, 27, 29) at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and the series will then move to Colombo where the one-dayers (August 1, 4, 7) will be played at the R Premadasa International Stadium.
India will be manned by newly-appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir, while the Lankans will also have a new coach in Sanath Jayasuriya.
Gambhir has recently replaced Rahul Dravid, who led India to their second T20 World Cup title in the Americas, while Jayasuriya came in for Chris Silverwood.
India are yet to announce the squad for the series but, as reported by PTI on July 8, senior players such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be rested for this trip.
It is expected that Hardik Pandya might get the reins of the T20I side, while KL Rahul could be appointed as the ODI team’s skipper.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka, who were ousted in the group stages of the T20 World Cup, will also have a new skipper after Wanindu Hasaranga stepped down from his post on Thursday.
This will be India’s first white-ball bilateral trip to the Island nation since 2021. Dravid was the stand-in coach then with Shikhar Dhawan leading a second-string side.
The tourists had won both the T20I and ODI series on that occasion.
