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5 Players Unlucky To Miss Out On The Squad For Sri Lanka Tour

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Ravi Bishnoi and Harshal Patel IPL
Photo: Punjab Kings/RCB

BCCI on June 10th announced the squad for the Sri Lanka tour to happen in July. The six-game tournament will involve 20 members from Team India. Since the preferred team is in England, the squad that will be going to Sri Lanka will be full of youngsters and a few players who require a second chance in the Indian Team.

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Although plenty of newcomers and returnees have been selected, a few players have unfortunately missed out on the squad for the Sri Lanka tour. Before we talk about these players, let’s have a look at the squad that has been selected:

India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (VC), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya

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Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh

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1) Harshal Patel

Considering the senior bowlers are in England, many expected Harshal Patel to feature in the squad. He did well in IPL 2021 and was the Purple Cap holder by the time the first phase of the competition came to a close. Moreover, Harshal is also a decent batsman down the order. Team India needs such cricketers at the moment, and hence, Harshal looked to have a chance. However, the selectors have gone in with speedsters who have played for India before and Chetan Sakariya.

2) Rahul Tewatia

Rahul Tewatia IPL
Photo: BCCI/IPL

Interestingly, Rahul Tewatia was part of the recent T20I squad for India but was not able to participate due to an injury. He played in IPL 2021, and looks like he does not have an injury concern now. Hence, it is a surprise that he has not made it to the squad for the Sri Lanka Tour. BCCI has instead given a chance to K Gowtham, a cricketer who has not played a lot of IPL in the last two seasons.

3) Ravi Bishnoi

With Yuzvendra Chahal and Rahul Chahar in the squad, Ravi Bishnoi anyways had a tough chance of getting into the unit. However, he is someone Team India sees as a future prospect and at least to give him the experience of international cricket, many felt Bishnoi had to be selected. However, the young leg-spinner has not made it to the team. In IPL, he missed a few games and could not showcase his skills completely, something that could have played a role in this decision.

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4) Jaydev Unadkat

Jaydev Unadkat has been picking wickets on a roll in the domestic circuit. It is only in IPL that he is not in form. However, in IPL 2021, he was actually decent in a few encounters. Hence, he had a decent chance of getting into the team as T Natarajan was recovering from an injury. Instead, the selectors have gone in with Chetan Sakariya, the youngster from Gujarat. This could mean that the doors are now closed for Unadkat, at least in limited-overs.

5) Riyan Parag

Riyan Parag has done well in the recent domestic competitions. He was in line to feature in the squad to Sri Lanka, which anyways had a lot of vacant spots. Since Team India needs multi-utility players to be groomed, Parag had a good chance. However, this has not occurred and the Assam man must now focus on the second phase of IPL 2021 to break open the door. He must do well in both departments to earn his chance.