The Indian team will be facing the Sri Lankan side in the three T20 match series starting from Tuesday. Hardik Panda has been given the captaincy role while senior batters like KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma have not been included in the T20I squad.
Young guns like Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar, and Rahul Tripathi have been added to India’s squad. In an interview with PTI, Mavi spoke about Pandya and said, “Hardik Pandya supports every player. He is a great leader. It is very difficult to be the IPL champion in the first outing but he managed to do it. He led Gujarat Titans from the front and became champions. He is a calm leader but took some bold decisions”.
“As a captain Hardik bhai is very shrewd and a master tactician. He knows exactly whom to bowl when and whom to promote in the batting order. I know it is not going to be easy for me but I am just hoping to get a game, perform there and be a regular for India,” he added.
In the recently passed IPL 2023 auction, Mavi got in by Pandya-led Gujarat Titans for a whopping INR 6 crore.
“Yes, I was expecting something around ₹5 and 6 crore. It is a result of my consistent performances. I always wanted to be in GT because I have heard that their management is very good. GT has Hardik bhai and (Ashish) Nehra bhai, the two best thinkers of the game,” said Mavi.
Squads:
India's T20I squad against Sri Lanka: Hardik Pandya (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzi Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.
India's ODI squad against Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Yuzi Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.