The Chetan Sharma-headed selection panel named a jumbo squad for the Sri Lanka tour on Thursday (June 10). Since India’s first-choice players are in the UK for the lengthy red-ball series, the selectors picked a young squad, led by senior player Shikhar Dhawan.

The left-handed batsman has served as Team India’s vice-captain twice and it will be for the first time that he will lead the Men in Blue. Dhawan will be assisted by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The right-arm pacer has been Sunrisers Hyderabad’s vice-captain and has also led the IPL franchise.

The squad saw the comeback of Manish Pandey, who missed the white-ball series against England. As per the former India pacer, Dodda Ganesh, Pandey should have been named the captain of Team India for the Sri Lanka tour.

The 47-year-old was shocked with Bhuvneshwar being named as the vice-captain and said that Manish should have been handed the charge of the team. 

“If they were looking for seniority as a measure, Manish Pandey should have been named as captain of the Indian team for the Sri Lanka tour. How fit is Bhuvneshwar Kumar to play as vice-captain? Manish knows the players, he has travelled a lot too. If Dhawan is called as a back-up ahead of the England series, who will lead the team? In terms of seniority, Manish will then be handed over the reins,” he told Sportskeeda.

Going by seniority, Bhuvneshwar is much more experienced than Manish as he made his T20I debut in 2012 while Manish made his debut in 2015. Also, he captained SRH when Manish was part of the playing XI.

As for Dhawan, he isn’t in the scheme of things as far as red-ball cricket is concerned and the selectors recalling him as a backup is highly unlikely. He has been away from the Test team since 2018. In addition, India have backup players for the UK tour.

The Men in Blue play 3 ODIs and as many T20Is against Sri Lanka in July. The three ODIs will be played on July 13, 16 and 18 while the T20Is will take place on July 21, 23 and 25, respectively.