Appointed interim head coach for next month’s Sri Lanka tour, former India batsman Rahul Dravid, will have T Dilip and Paras Mhambrey for company as fielding and bowling coaches through the limited-overs series.
While Dravid and Mhambrey were expected names to oversee the team in absence of Ravi Shastri and his support staff, Dilip’s inclusion has taken people by surprise.
Dilip, 39, is a fielding coach for Hyderabad in domestic cricket and has also been involved with the India ‘A’ side previously. He boasts of a Level-3 coaching certificate and was rated highly among members of the selection panel under then chairman MSK Prasad, who had taken interviews to appoint the support staff back in 2019.
With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in England, veteran opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan has been named captain for the three ODIs and three T20Is against Sri Lanka, with experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked as his deputy.
The 20-member squad which the selectors have announced will be entering phase 1 of their pre-series quarantine in Mumbai on Monday (June 14) along with the five appointed net bowlers. The team is expected to leave for Sri Lanka on June 27 after their 14-day isolation.
Cricbuzz reported a source from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) mentioning that the Indian team will have three days of hard quarantine upon reaching the Island nation and will then enter a soft quarantine of just as many days, after which they’ll be allowed to train.
Dravid, keeping in mind the lack of a preparatory camp before the series, is understood to have insisted on at least seven days of practice before the opening game. There will be no practice matches as such, but according to Cricbuzz, “BCCI and SLC have arranged facilities for intra-squad warm-up games in Colombo.”
The report also mentioned that the BCCI has relaxed the fitness criteria for the Sri Lanka series, as there will be no test for the players. The exemption from yo-yo test and 2-km run is given amid the pandemic situation within the country, with various states opting for lockdowns. The selectors, thus, included finger-spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who couldn’t play against England in March after failing successive fitness tests.
Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium will host the three ODIs, part of the ICC Super League, to be played on July 13, 16 and 18, followed by the T20Is on July 21, 23 and 25, respectively.
