India’s White-Ball Tour of Sri Lanka Begins July 26; Gambhir to Debut as Coach

India kicks off their Sri Lanka tour on July 26 with a T20I series of three games. The team will then play three ODIs beginning August 1. BCCI announced the venues for these matches. Pallekele International Stadium hosts the T20Is, while R Premadasa Stadium stages the ODIs. The T20I series has games on July 26, July 27 and July 29.

The tour will see fresh faces leading both teams. Sri Lanka has chosen Sanath Jayasuriya as their temporary head coach. India’s new head coach, Gautam Gambhir, will start his role replacing Rahul Dravid who guided the team to win the T20 World Cup.

India’s last white-ball series in Sri Lanka happened in July 2021. They won the ODI matches 2-1 but lost the T20I games with the same score. This upcoming series marks a new chapter for both teams under different leadership.

India’s touring Zimbabwe right now for a five-match T20I series. It’s their second T20I series since they beat South Africa in the T20 World Cup. Shubman Gill leads a fresh Indian squad and VVS Laxman coaches them. They’re up 2-1 in the series. The fourth game’s happening Saturday in Harare.

Sri Lanka didn’t do well in the T20 World Cup. They couldn’t make it to the Super Eights. South Africa and Bangladesh beat them. Their only win came against the Netherlands. Rain washed out their game with Nepal. They ended up third in Group D with just three points.

Rohit Sharma’s retirement from T20Is after the ICC T20 World Cup opens the door for Hardik Pandya to captain India in the shortest format. Sources say KL Rahul will lead the ODI team.

News is circulating that Hardik Pandya will take over as India’s T20 captain when Rohit Sharma retires. He’ll play in the upcoming Sri Lanka series too, without a break.

Pandya racked up 144 runs in six innings during the T20 World Cup. He averaged 48.00 and struck at 151.57 smashing a fifty too. He grabbed 11 wickets in eight matches averaging 17.36 and going at 7.64 runs per over.

This showing was Pandya’s comeback after folks slammed him in IPL 2024. He’d taken over as Mumbai Indians’ skipper from Rohit Sharma then. Though he struggled, Pandya bounced back well. He’d been out with an ankle problem from last year’s 50-over World Cup.

KL Rahul didn’t make it to the T20 World Cup team. This happened even though he played well in the ODI World Cup 2023 in India. He scored 452 runs in 11 matches there. He hit one hundred and two fifties during that tournament.