Opener Shikhar Dhawan has replaced injured Murali Vijay in India's squad for the three-Test series against Sri Lanka, starting at Galle on July 26. Vijay has been ruled out due to a wrist injury suffered during the four-match Test series against Australia. The 31-year-old Dhawan returns to the Test team after playing his last match against New Zealand in October 2016.
"The All-India Senior Selection Committee on Monday named Shikhar Dhawan as the replacement for injured Murali Vijay in the Test team, which is scheduled to travel to Sri Lanka for a three-match Test series," a BCCI press release stated.
"Vijay, who had suffered a wrist injury during Australia's tour of India, has complained of pain in his right wrist, while playing a preparatory match. The BCCI medical team has therefore advised that Vijay should continue his rehabilitation program," it added.
Dhawan, who is a regular in the Indian ODI side, has played 23 Tests and averages 38.52. He has four hundreds to his credit in an accumulated 1464 runs. He last played a Test for India in 2016 against New Zealand in a home series.
Recently, Dhawan has been in superb form, ending the ICC Champions Trophy in England as the leading run-scorer. The attacking southpaw also scored 161 runs in the five-match ODI series against the West Indies.
India's tour of Sri Lanka will comprise of three Tests, five one-day internationals and one-off T20. The will be India's first full series in eight years in Sri Lanka, involving all three formats of the game. The first Test between Sri Lanka and India will start on July 26 at the Galle International Stadium followed by matches in Colombo and Kandy, respectively in August.
The ODI series will begin at the Dambulla International Stadium on August 20 followed by the second and third ODIs at Kandy. The remaining two matches will be played at the historic R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The lone T20I will be also played at the same venue in Colombo on September 6.
India last toured the Island nation in August 2015 where they played an exciting three-match Test series which they won 2-1 under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. It was India's first Test series win on Sri Lankan soil in 22 years.
Updated India squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice captain), Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicketkeeper), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, M Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund
Schedule for India vs Sri Lanka Tests
July 21-22: Warm-up match (Colombo)
July 26-30: 1st Test, Galle
Aug 3-7: 2nd Test Colombo
Aug 12-16: 3rd Test, Kandy
