Team India stand-in Captain Rohit Sharma on Monday said the they are not the favorites to win the Nidahas Trophy which commences on Tuesday featuring Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as the other two teams. The hit man believes that the Twenty20 tri-series is unpredictable and the tag of favorites cannot be used for India. India faces Sri Lanka in the first game of the series.
Indian selection team have decided to rest the star players Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli for the tri-series and experiment with the new faces for the tournament. Paceman Mohammed Siraj, 23, and Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant are being given the opportunity to gain international experience.
With Rohit Sharma as the captain for the 13-day tournament, another opener Shikahr Dhawan has been named as the vice-captain of the Indian side with BCCI.
The matches in the tournament will be played under the lights at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lakna. This tournament, named as Nidahas trophy has been organized remembering the 70th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence.
The tournament will follow a round-robin format. This means, all the three teams will be playing the two teams twice and the top two teams will meet in the final on March 18.
India triumphed in both ODI and Twenty20 matches on the soil of South Africa recently.
DSPORT, a sports channel by Discovery Communications is telecasting the tournament.
Team India Squad:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj, Rishabh Pant (wk)
Schedule:
March 6: Sri Lanka v India
March 8: Bangladesh v India
March 10: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh
March 12: India v Sri Lanka
March 14: India v Bangladesh
March 16: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka
March 18: Final
Read: Nathan Lyon Throws Ball On AB de Villiers After Running Him Out