The Indian team is to host Sri Lanka from the 3rd of January for the upcoming home series consisting of three-match T20Is and the same number of ODIs. The outgoing selection committee led by Chetan Sharma will be picking two Indian squads for the as the new panel will not be named before another week’s time, according to BCCI sources.
“The old committee will probably select the Sri Lanka white ball squad," a BCCI source told PTI.
The T20Is are scheduled on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th of January. On the other hand, the ODIs will be played on the 10th, 12th, and 15th of the same month.
The team's regular captain Rohit Sharma could not play in two matches of the recent ODI series against Bangladesh and could not be a part of the Test series due to a thumb injury. There was a question raised on his inclusion in the squads for the upcoming series and the selection of the teams, which was largely cleared by the BCCI official.
"As of now, it doesn’t look like Rohit Sharma’s finger will heal enough before the T20Is and in that case, Hardik will lead the side," the source said.
"As far as KL Rahul is concerned, his T20I days seem to be numbered,” the source added.
KL Rahul's performance in T20Is in 2022:
- Matches played: 16
- Runs scored: 434
- Highest score: 62
- Strike-Rate: 126.53
- 4s/6s: 27/26
- 50s/100s: 6/0
- Average runs: 28.93
There is also a possibility that the T20I side to be named will comprise only the specialists of that format. Some players like Virat Kohli might also be given a break from the T20 format.
While the entire committee led by Chetan was sacked for its non-performance after the Indian team's T20 World Cup semi-final ouster, the process to find new selectors has taken a bit longer than expected.
It is expected that the interviews of the short-listed candidates to pick the selection committee members by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) will happen between December 26 and 28.
“Chetan and his committee are still watching domestic cricket. They watched the full Vijay Hazare Trophy and also the first two rounds of the Ranji Trophy. Debasish Mohanty was present at Eden Gardens to watch Bengal vs Himachal Pradesh. Basically, they got a two-month extension till December 25,” the official said.
Chetan and his central zone colleague Harvinder Singh have reapplied for the selectors' posts, along with the likes of Venkatesh Prasad, Nayan Mongia, Maninder Singh, Atul Wassan, Nikhil Chopra, Amay Khurasiya, Gyanendra Pandey and Mukund Parmar to name a few.
