MUMBAI (Reuters) – Rohit Sharma will start his reign as India’s new test captain on Friday in a two-match sequence towards neighbours Sri Lanka, hoping to maintain the crew’s juggernaut rolling at residence.
India haven’t misplaced at residence in the longest format since their 2-1 defeat by England in 2012 and received their 14th consecutive rubber at residence after they beat inaugural World Test Champions New Zealand on the finish of final yr.
Rohit’s facet will likely be agency favourites to increase their successful streak, having by no means misplaced a test match to Sri Lanka at residence and their final defeat towards the crew coming manner again in 2015 in the longest format.
Rohit was named India’s test captain final month, succeeding batting talisman Virat Kohli as the crew’s chief in all three codecs.
The opening batter from Mumbai is a confirmed chief in white-ball cricket, having led India to T20 sequence wins over New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka just lately and in addition captaining the Mumbai Indians to 5 Indian Premier League titles.
Kohli, India’s most profitable test captain, stepped down after seven years in cost in a shock transfer final month following India’s 2-1 sequence defeat in South Africa.
The concentration is going to, nevertheless, proceed to be on the 33-year-old Kohli in Mohali with the competition towards Sri Lanka being his 100th test match for the nation.
The match in the northern Indian metropolis of Mohali was initially scheduled to be held with out spectators resulting from COVID-19 however the Indian cricket board mentioned on Tuesday that fifty% capability will likely be allowed for Kohli’s milestone match.
The two-match sequence may even be the primary in years when India will likely be with out each Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara with each senior batters dropped resulting from inconsistent type.
Batter KL Rahul and all-rounder Washington Sundar are additionally lacking with accidents.
It might open up a batting spot in the test facet for Shreyas Iyer, who scored three unbeaten half-centuries in India’s 3-0 victory in the T20 sequence towards the identical opponents.
The hosts might additionally unleash their first-choice spin duo of left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin towards Sri Lanka.
All-rounder Jadeja has returned to full health from a knee harm whereas Ashwin, who’s in the squad, is anticipated to be accessible after recovering from an unspecified harm in January.
Sri Lanka have additionally welcomed again Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella in their test squad after their one-year suspension for breaching the crew’s bio-bubble protocols throughout final yr’s tour of England was lifted in January.
Lahiru Thirimanne has additionally returned to the Dimuth Karinaratne-led facet, having opted out of Sri Lanka’s earlier test sequence towards West Indies in November for the delivery of his second baby.
The second and ultimate test will likely be performed in Bengaluru from March 12 underneath lights.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; enhancing by Christian Radnedge)
