Shikhar Dhawan became the oldest Indian on ODI captaincy debut during the first game of the three-match series against Sri Lanka. At 35 years and 225 days, Dhawan went past Mohinder Amarnath, who captained India for the first time in ODIs at the age of 34.
Overall, Dhawan is the oldest Indian captain on debut since Hemu Adhikari in 1959, who led the country for the first time at the age of 39. Adhikari also holds the overall Indian record for the same.
Others older than Dhawan on Indian captaincy debut are Vinoo Mankad, CK Nayudu, Vijay Hazare, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and Lala Amarnath (all at the age of 36).
Dhawan is leading the Indian limited-overs team in the absence of Virat Kohli, who is currently in the United Kingdom with the Test side. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is Dhawan's deputy on the Sri Lankan tour which includes three ODIs and as many T20Is.
The left-handed opening batsman is also the 25th ODI captain of India.
This will be India's first ODI outing since their three-match series against England at home, where they beat Eoin Morgan's men 2-1.
The tour of Sri Lanka features a number of new faces in the squad which will be in line to make their international debuts throughout the course of the series.
Many first-teamers, including Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant among others are not the part of the Sri Lankan tour, as they are also in the United Kingdom to prepare for the five-Test series against England.
