Rohit, Virat & Co. reach Colombo for ODI series against Sri Lanka

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. (Source – Twitter/X)

With one game remaining to end the first-half of the tour, the six players who were not part of the squad, involving star batters, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, have arrived in Colombo.

Rohit, who journeyed from the USA to Sri Lanka, was not the only member of the team to check into the ITC Ratnadipa Hotel in Colombo on Sunday night. The ODI captain was in the USA for a personal visit.

Sources from Sri Lanka have disclosed that the ODI squad will engage in a net session at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Monday. The Indian team management has assigned Abhishek Nayar, one of the assistant coaches under head coach, Gautam Gambhir, to supervise the session in Colombo. Nayar departed for Colombo from Kandy on Monday morning following the second T20I on Sunday night, according to Cricbuzz.

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The remaining members of the ODI squad, currently engaged in their T20I duties, will join Rohit & Co. following the conclusion of the third and final T20I at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on July 30. The tourists have already secured the three-match T20I series with an unassailable 2-0 lead, following a couple of clinical outings.

The ODI series will commence in Colombo on August 2, with all three matches scheduled to take place in the captial city. The series will culminate on August 7, following the second ODI on August 4.

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Gambhir recently indicated that the team management will be assessing the coaching setup during the six-match tour of Sri Lanka, with intentions to establish a comprehensive coaching staff for future series. It remains unclear whether Sairaj Bahutule, who specializes in spin bowling and is currently serving as an interim bowling coach during the tour of Sri Lanka, will retain his role. Given that Morne Morkel, whose involvement is anticipated to commence with the series against Bangladesh, is renowned for his expertise in fast bowling rather than spin, the team may necessitate a dedicated spin bowling coach.

Should Bahutule retain his position, the coaching staff would consist of two assistant coaches (Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate), a bowling coach (Morkel), a fielding coach (T. Dilip), and a spin bowling coach, in addition to head coach, Gambhir. This would result in a total of six coaches.

ODI squad to face Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Riyan Parag, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana