Team India to make BIG changes as Sourav Ganguly confirms Sri Lanka tour in July

Team India will travel to Sri Lanka for a limited over tourney, consisting three ODIs and five T20Is, in the month of July. (Reuters/File Photo)

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday stated that Team India will travel to Sri Lanka for a limited over tourney, consisting three ODIs and five T20Is, in the month of July. However, no offical date have been announced for the series. 

As per ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP), Team India are scheduled to play three T20Is in Sri Lanka in July. The team were scheduled to take part in a limited-over series against Sri Lanka last year, but it got cancelled due to COVID-19. 

BCCI last week announced a 20-man squad, which will leave for England to take part in the World Test Championship finals against New Zealand in Southampton and it will be followed by a five-match Test series against the hosts, starting from August 4. 

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka also have a couple of fixtures lined up in England in June, three ODIs and the same number of T20Is scheduled for June 23 to July 4. 

"We have planned a white ball series for the senior men's team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and ODIs in Sri Lanka," Ganguly told PTI in an interaction.

Asked how will India segregate the two teams, Ganguly said that it will be a different side, which won't have anyone from the outfit that will be in the United Kingdom at that time.

"Yes, it will be a team of white ball specialists. It will be a different team," the former India captain said, making it clear that the cricket board also has the preparation of white ball regulars in mind.  

India's tour of England will end on September 14 and with the schedule of the remainder of IPL yet to be chalked out, the BCCI would want the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal to be match ready. 

The team will also like to give a chance to carry out experiments, like whether it will be Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar or Rahul Tewatia for the leg break bowler's slot, if Chetan Sakariya can be tried as left-arm option, whether Devdutt Padikkal or Shreyas Iyer gets fit to play by then. 

- with PTI inputs