BCCI suspended the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been suspended until further notice after the coronavirus breached the Indian bio-bubble. Meanwhile, the Indian team is gearing up for three important assignments. At first, they will be locking horns with New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship final in England.
The maiden fina of the Test championship will be played in Southampton from June 18. After that, Team India will remain there itself to play the five-match Test series against England. Meanwhile, BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly has informed that India will be flying to Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series in July comprising of 3 T20Is and as many 3 ODIs.
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Since the top players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah will be busy in England, they can’t be available for the Sri Lanka tour. As a result, BCCI will have to send the second-string side to Sri Lanka. Shreyas Iyer’s participation in the Sri Lanka tour still remains doubtful. A BCCI source told TOI that it is not clear whether Iyer will recover in time for the tour of Sri Lanka.
In case if Iyer is not a match-fit, then Shikhar Dhawan and Hardik Pandya are the only two senior players available to lead the team. Both of them are leading the race for captaincy duties. Shikhar Dhawan had a blistering start to the IPL 2021. He is the leading run-scorer of the tournament as he had amassed 380 runs in 7 games. Dhawan scored 3 fifties to his name.
Moreover, he maintained a sensational batting average of 54.28. On the other hand, Hardik ha da below-par outing with the bat in IPL 2021. He also didn’t bowl for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2021.
Talking about the same, one of the BCCI officials had said, “Shikhar has had two very good IPL including this curtailed one and being the senior-most among those who are available for selection, he is a very strong contender. Also, he has been a solid performer for India for the past eight years.”
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The official also added, “Yes, Hardik hasn’t been regularly bowling for MI or India in recent times. However, he is the man with x-factor and among the options available. He is miles ahead of his peers in terms of being an impact performer. And who knows, maybe extra responsibility brings the best out of him.”
