Ex-BCCI Selector Urges Gautam Gambhir To Include Abhishek Sharma In India Squad For Sri Lanka Series

New Delhi: Former India selector Saba Karim has urged India’s new coach Gautam Gambhir to include Abhishek Sharma atleast in the 15-member squad for the white-ball series against Sri Lanka. Sharma, who made his debut for India in the T20Is against Zimbabwe, already has an international hundred to his name, which came in just his second match. With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma call it quits from the shortest format, Sharma got the call for his heroics with the bat at the top of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. While he was out for a duck on debut, the southpaw announced his arrival with a blazing hundred in his second game.

While the India squad for the series against Sri Lanka is yet to be announced, Karim felt India should go with Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top. “The most important positions will be in the top order only. I feel the selectors should go with these two (Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill) only.

“I feel Abhishek Sharma should get a place at least in the 15 because you have Rishabh Pant at No. 3 and Suryakumar Yadav at No. 4,” Karim was quoted as saying to Sony Sports. Meanwhile, the schedule of India’s upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka has been revised, and the start of the contest pushed back by a day to July 27, the BCCI said on Saturday. The Indians will be touring the island nation later this month for three T20 Internationals and as many ODIs.

Originally, the first match — a T20 International — was to be played on July 26, but it will now be held on July 27, followed by the remaining two T20 games on July 28 and July 30, with all the ties to be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

The ODIs, initially scheduled to start on August 1, will now begin on August 2, followed by the remaining matches on August 4 and August 7, with all the games to be held at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. It will be India’s first white-ball bilateral trip to the Island nation since 2021.

Dravid was the stand-in coach then, with Shikhar Dhawan leading a second-string side. India had won both the T20I and ODI series on that occasion. India is yet to announce the squad for the tour, but, as reported by PTI on July 8, senior players such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are set to be rested.

India will also have a new head coach in Gautam Gambhir, while the Sri Lankans will have a new man at the helm of affairs in Sanath Jayasuriya, who has been named as the interim head coach.