India announce T20 squad for series against Sri Lanka

Indian Test captain Virat Kohli, who became the No.1 batsman in ICC World T20 rankings today, has been rested for the three-match series after his Man of the Series performance against Australia to guide India to a 3-0 series victory. Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who missed out on the T20 series after an injury during the ODI series down under, has made a comeback into the side.

Delhi left-arm spinner Pawan Negi, who also played for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL,  received a maiden call-up into the national team fold after his impressive performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy and Deodhar trophy. Manish Pandey, who scored an unbeaten century in the last ODI against Australia, also finds a place in the team with Virat Kohli making way for him.

Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Rishi Dhawan, who were selected in the T20 squad against Australia after injuries to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ajinkya Rahane, found themselves out of the reckoning after the return of the injured duo. Umesh Yadav also missed out on a spot in the team after poor performance in the ODI series. 

The first match of the three match series is scheduled to take place on February 9 at the the MCA International Stadium in Pune, while the second (February 12) and third (February 14) will take place in Ranchi and Visakhapatnam.

T20I Team: MS Dhoni (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pawan Negi.

(Also Read: Dinesh Chandimal to lead depleted Sri Lanka squad against India)

The women's team for the ODI and T20 series against Sri Lanka was also announced on Monday.

T20I (Women): Mithali Raj (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harmanpreet Kaur, Anuja Patil, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sushma Verma, Poonam Yadav, VR Vanitha, Sneh Rana, Thirushkamini MD, Ekta Bisht, Niranjana Nagarajan.ODI Team (Women): Mithali Raj (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harmanpreet Kaur, Thirushkamini MD, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sushma Verma, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, R Kalpana, Niranjana Nagarajan, Preeti Bose.