India vs Sri Lanka | Virat Kohli rested for ODIs, Rohit Sharma to lead for first time

Earlier, reports had surfaced that suggested that Kohli had wanted a break ahead of the eagerly-awaited overseas challenge of South Africa. The Indian skipper then openly criticised the BCCI for their planning of India’s schedule. Some former players including the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Sunil Gavaskar also advised the BCCI to give the Indian skipper some rest. The BCCI selectors have finally decided to hand over the limited-overs captaincy to Rohit Sharma for the Sri Lanka series, after handing the Indian skipper the much-needed break. But, contrary to popular opinion, Kohli will play the final Test of the series and will only take off after that.

However, Kohli might be called up for the T20I series for which the team will be declared around the time of the last Test in Delhi. Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan, who missed the second Test owing to personal reasons, has also made a comeback to the team for the final Test in Delhi starting on December 2. While Shreyas Iyer has found a place in the ODI squad, Punjab pacer Sidharth Kaul has been called up to the squad for the first time in his career. 

While Kaul has not been a regular in the Punjab Ranji Trophy team, he has been a consistent performer for the India A team lately, picking wickets in almost every match.

India squad for the third Test: Virat Kohli (Captain), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-Captain), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar

India squad for the ODI series: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul