No Place For Jaiswal, Rohit To Lead; India's Probable Squad For Sri Lanka ODIs

India will travel to Sri Lanka for six ODIs [AP]India will travel to Sri Lanka for six ODIs [AP]

Team India is currently in the Caribbean, participating in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 to end their long trophy drought. 

While the players are focused on winning this year's biggest ICC event, the selectors have started building the squad for next year's ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be played in Pakistan in February-March.

India last played an ODI series in December last year in South Africa. Then, India named a second-string squad, with senior players opting out to prepare for the Test series that followed the ODI series.

Ahead of the mega event, India is slated to play only six ODIs: three against Sri Lanka next month in Sri Lanka and three against England at home in January next year. 

The sub-continent conditions in Sri Lanka and at home will help India prepare better for the Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan. However, their participation is subject to approval by the Government of India.

With a limited number of ODIs scheduled before the Champions Trophy, the selectors will likely name a full-strength squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka.

Earlier, there were reports that senior players might opt out of the Sri Lanka tour. However, the latest reports suggest that the selectors will name a full-strength squad. This means skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj will travel to the Lankan island for the series.

KL Rahul, who was left out of the T20 World Cup squad, will return to the ODI side for the tour. A decision on Rishabh Pant's workload will be considered. 

Shreyas Iyer is also likely to be in the ODI squad for Sri Lanka. Sanju Samson could be the backup wicketkeeper in Sri Lanka if Pant is unavailable.

With Mohammed Shami unavailable for selection, Arshdeep Singh, who led India's pace attack in the ODI series against South Africa, is likely to find a place. He is in form and adds variety to the bowling attack dominated by right-arm pacers. Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan will compete for one spot in the bowling department.

Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel might be the all-rounders for the Sri Lanka tour. Kuldeep Yadav is expected to be the only wrist spinner in the squad.


India's probable Squad for SL ODIs

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant/Sanju Samson, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav