The Indian squad will be touring Sri Lanka in the month of July and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had announced a 20 player squad for the same. Five net bowlers will also accompany the side to play the 3-match ODI series and the 3-match T20I series
Shikhar Dhawan was named as the captain of the young side while pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be the vice-captain. The side will be guided by coach Rahul Dravid and will be accompanied by T Dilip and Paras Mhambrey as the assistant coaches for the limited-overs series.
Dravid - who is known to be meticulous with planning - is, however, keen to get things started before the tour. He wants the boys to have some sort of practice, starting at least a week prior to the first match of the series.
While the team will undergo a 14-day quarantine in India (seven days of hard and seven days of soft quarantine) before undergoing another phase of quarantine in Colombo, the BCCI has also made some changes as they relaxed some of the mandatory fitness routines like the Yo-Yo test and 2 KM runs.
Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments in the Lankan board confirmed that the Indian players wanted to play some practice games, but the COVID-19 situation meant it had to be intra-squad games and not against a Sri Lanka 'A' team.
"The Indians wanted to play some warm-up games against the 'A' team or a team that could be arranged, but the COVID-19 protocols made that a little difficult and that is when a request went to BCCI to play intra-squad games. So, the Indian team will now play one T20 game and two one-day games to prepare for the limited-overs series," the source said.
The team will assemble on Monday and undergo seven days of hard quarantine and seven days of soft quarantine with indoor training. The team leaves for Colombo on June 28. All six international matches will be held at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
