The veteran Indian opener, Shikhar Dhawan has been appointed as the captain of the Indian team for the first time in his career during India’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka next month. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Thursday, announced a 20-member squad for India’s limited-overs tour of the island nation.
Dhawan was appointed the Indian skipper in the absence of the regular skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma. Reacting to the news, the southpaw shared a picture of himself in India’s blue jersey and expressed his delight. Captioning teh picture on Twitter, Shikhar Dhawan wrote: “Humbled by the opportunity to lead my country. Thank you for all your wishes”.
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Humbled by the opportunity to lead my country 🇮🇳 Thank you for all your wishes 🙏 pic.twitter.com/SbywALBTwZ
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) June 11, 2021
His fans were excited to hear about the news and extended their greetings in the comments section. One of his fans wrote: “CongratulationsGabbar. We are so excited to see you as a captain. All the best Gabbar”.
Congratulations Gabbar 🔥 We are so excited to see you as a captain 😍💯 All the best Gabbar 🔥 Amaziiiiiiiiing We pic.twitter.com/3Kjs6mV88O
— Hitman and Kl Rahul 👑 KOHLI Dhoni club (@Abusufi59167657) June 11, 2021
One of Dhawan’s fans also tweeted, “Wishing u Good Luck Gabbar”. “I wasn’t too excited about the Sri Lanka tour. Now, with you captaining and Dravid mentoring, this makes a must-watch. Go Gabbar, Go!! Nothing less than 6-0. All the best,” wrote another fan of the Delhi Capitals (DC) batsman. “CongratulationsAnna… Bring the trophy home,” wrote another follower of Dhawan. “Well deserved captaincy Shikhar,” said a fan on Twitter.
Wishing u Good Luck Gabbar 🔥💙 pic.twitter.com/36tf4JBEVd
— Aditya Thapa (@RohitianAditya) June 11, 2021
Congratulations Anna… Bring the trophy home ❤️
— Troll Dhawan Haters (@Dhawanswarrior) June 11, 2021
Well deserved Captaincy Shikhar .
But nothing less than 6‐0 will be acceptable against minnow Sri Lanka 🤧🤧— Ankit 🙃 (@Ankit_rao1) June 11, 2021
India’s tour of Sri Lanka consists of six matches — three ODIs (July 13, 16, 18) and as many as T20Is (July 21, 23, 25).
Former Indian skipper, Rahul Dravid, who is currently serving as the director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has been named coach for the tour. The veteran Indian fast bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named Dhawan’s deputy. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, Devdutt Padikkal, K Gowtham, and Chetan Sakariya have earned their maiden call-ups in the national team.
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India squad for Sri Lanka tour: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-capt), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.
Net bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, R Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh.
