India will tour Sri Lanka in July for limited-overs series: Sourav Ganguly

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has confirmed that the Indian cricket team will tour Sri Lanka in July. Both the top-notch teams will face each other for three ODIs and five T20Is in Sri Lanka. It is known that captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma will not be part of the tour. The duo is going to be engaged in a marquee 5-match Test series in England. Sourav Ganguly stated that the Indian team for the Sri Lanka tour would have none of the players selected for the England Tests. He further added that it would be a completely different team comprising of white-ball specialists. The Indian cricket board has already begun the preparations keeping in mind the white-ball regulars for the forthcoming series in Sri Lanka.

India's tour of England is likely to conclude on September 14. However, considering the schedule of the remainder of IPL is yet to be figured 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 be picked based on the forthcoming T20 World Cup: Sourav Ganguly

Ganguly also hinted that the Indian team will be picked to sort out the selection puzzles ahead of the T20 World Cup. The mega event is slated to be held in India later this year. With mainstay players out of the playing XI, the Indian cricket board could hand debuts to budding IPL stars Devdutt Padikkal, Varun Chakravarthy, and Rahul Tewatia. Shreyas Iyer could also be included in the team if he gets fit to play by then. In addition, young opening batsman Prithvi Shaw's international career could get a boost with this white ball tournament. On the contrary, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan might also get an opportunity to cement their place in the team.

India and New Zealand will play the final of the World Test Championship in June. Virat Kohli and the team will play the WTC final against New Zealand from June 18, 2021, at Southampton. Earlier, the venue for the final was Lords. After the WTC final, the Indian cricket team will play the 5 Test series against England starting from August 5. Earlier, speculations were made that IPL may be held between the available window of June 22 and August 5. However, Sourav Ganguly has put an end to all the assumptions. He has stated that India will play the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka in July.

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