Virat rested for Sri Lanka ODIs, Rohit Sharma to take charge of the squad

Rohit Sharma has been roped in as the Captain for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli has been rested for this tour. He along with the team will be facing the visitors from December 10.

Kohli has revealed that he has been playing too much cricket and cricketers need some rest from the packed international calendar. India is set to tour South Africa after three days of the Sri Lanka T20I series which will end on December 24.

The 15-man squad includes batsman Shreyas Iyer for the first time and pacer Sidharth Kaul. Hardik Pandya, is also a part of the squad, he was rested for the Sri Lanka Tests. Ravindera Jadeja and R Ashwin once again missed out on limited-overs selection.

Kohli has been playing non-stop cricket since IPL. He shared his views on the cramped schedule. Virat said that it will take time for the team to get used to the conditions during tours like in South Africa. He played more international cricket in 2017 than the rest of the Indian players. Kohli has been a part of nine Tests, 26 one-day internationals, and 10 T20s.

Therefore, Virat will be playing the third and the final Test from December 2 against Sri Lanka in New Delhi. The selectors have retained the same squad for the final Test. However, Bhuvneshwar will be joining the Test series.

ODI squad for Sri Lanka Tour:

Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sidharth Kaul