India’s wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson has been ruled out of the remaining two T20Is against Sri Lanka. Vidarbha wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma has been named as a replacement for Samson for the rest of the series.
Meanwhile, Samson suffered a knee injury when he attempted to take Pathum Nissanka’s catch in the first over off the bowling of Hardik Pandya in the first game. Samson, fielding at mid-off, managed to catch the ball but it popped out of his hand when his elbow landed on the ground.
The Kerala batter, who could only score five runs in the opening game, didn’t travel with the team to Pune and stayed back in Mumbai for scans and a specialist opinion, and was advised rest and rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, Jitesh Sharma hogged the limelight when he made his IPL debut in 2022 playing for Punjab Kings. Jitesh played 12 matches, hitting 234 runs at a blistering strike rate of 163.63, with the highest score of 44.
The right-hander also amassed 224 runs in ten matches at a strike rate of 175 in the 2022 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Vidharbha and thus has put his name in the reckoning.
On the other hand, Arshdeep Singh missed out on the final XI in the first T20I due to illness. However, Singh has now recovered and he is available for selection. In the absence of Arshdeep, Shivam Mavi made his T20I debut and he was able to hit the ground running as he returned with impressive figures of 4-22 in his quota of four overs.
Thus, Singh’s availability will cause selections headaches for stand-in captain Hardik Pandya and head coach Rahul Dravid. The second T20I will be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Thursday.
India Squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Mavi, Ishan Kishan, Jitesh Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar.
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