The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday, 10 June, announced the squad for India's limited-overs fixtures against Sri Lanka away from home.
The selectors have called up some new faces in the absence of the regular squad who are currently occupied with their tour of England. The fresh faces include Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Nitish Rana, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Devdutt Padikkal, Rajasthan Royals' Chetan Sakariya, Chennai Super Kings’ Ruturaj Gaikwad and K Gowtham.
In a conversation with The Indian Express, left-arm pacer Sakariya talked about his selection and how his parents had supported him to continue playing cricket.
“I wish my father had been here to see this. He wanted me to play for India. I miss him a lot today. God has made me see ups and downs in a span of one year. It has been a very emotional ride so far,” Sakariya said.
The RR bowler had also lost his younger brother before he bagged the Indian Premier League contract.
“I lost my younger brother and a month later I got a big IPL contract. I lost my father last month, and god has handed me an India call-up. This is an irreplaceable void. This one is for my late father and for my mother, who allowed me to continue with my cricket,” Sakariya went on.
The Indian team to Sri Lanka will be led by veteran Shikhar Dhawan while Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named his deputy. The first ODI of the three-match series will be played on July 13 at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Colombo with all the fixtures taking place at the same venue. The ODI matches will be followed by a T20I series scheduled to begin on July 21.
India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh