India's Tour of Sri Lanka 2024: Newly appointed head coach of the Indian Cricket Team (ICT) Gautam Gambhir on Monday, July 23, conducted his first ever training session, as team India look all set to start a new era under the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup winner. India are scheduled to play 3 ODI's and 3 T20I's against the hosts.
Watch the highlights of the training session here:
India will be starting their tour with a 3-match T20I series, starting Saturday, July 27, and all the three T20I's will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. Several big faces were spotted during the training session, as the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill were part of the drills.
Can Suryakumar Yadav Lead India To Glory In His First Series As Full-Time T20I Captain?
Suryakumar Yadav was named as the new captain of Indian Cricket Team last week, as the new head coach Gautam Gambhir took some bold decisions. Hardik Pandya, who was earlier the vice-captain of the side, was expected to be the successor of the 'now-retired' Rohit Sharma, but the Ajit Agarkar-led committee had different plans and now Shubman Gill is India's T20I vice-captain.
When asked about the reasons behind Hardik Pandya's demotion, Ajit Agarkar stated 'fitness' as a major concern, and added that the players who are not injury-prone should assume the duties of leadership and that, Hardik Pandya is a very valuable player to the side.
Suryakumar Yadav has stepped in as deputy captain on occasions before, but this will be his first real test, as India are now heading into the 'Post Ro-Ko Era' (as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have announced their retirement from the T20I format). Sri Lanka do not stand as a big threat or a tough challenge to the newly-crowned T20 World champions, but we all saw what happened in the 1st T20I against Zimbabwe earlier this month, and Gautam Gambhir would not like to start his coaching tenure with a shock defeat.