For the forthcoming three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, and Harshit Rana have arrived in Colombo, according to a report.
On Sunday night, the main players arrived at the IPC Ratnadipa Hotel in Sri Lanka. On Monday, the ODI team will practise net at the stadium. This practice will be supervised by Abhishek Nayar, one of the assistant coaches under the new head coach Gautam Gambhir. Nayar landed in Colombo early on Monday morning, following the end of Sunday night’s second Twenty20 international match.
Following the last Twenty20 International match in Pallekele on July 30, the remaining players in the squad will join Rohit and the ODI players. The attention now turns to the ODIs after India won the opening two matches to secure the T20I series.
The R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium will host the three ODI matches, which are set to start on August 2 in Colombo. The series will end on August 7 with the second ODI scheduled for August 4.
Morne Morkel, a former fast bowler from South Africa, is anticipated to become a bowling coach for Gambhir’s coaching staff. He will likely start in September for the home series against Bangladesh. According to Cricbuzz, Gambhir has stated that the team management is presently assessing the coaching staff during the six-match series in Sri Lanka, with intentions to appoint a full-fledged coaching staff for subsequent series.
If the management deems it advantageous, spin bowling specialist Sairaj Bahutule—who is now acting as an interim bowling coach for the Sri Lanka tour—may stay in that capacity. But even with Morkel’s primary area of expertise being fast bowling, the club may still need a spin bowling coach.
The coaching staff, if Bahutule stays in his job, would include head coach Gautam Gambhir, two assistant coaches (Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate), a bowling coach (Morne Morkel), a fielding coach (T Dilip), and a spin bowling coach. This would increase the number of coaches to six, which would cause some people to worry that the coaching staff is too big.
India’s ODI team:
Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), and Mohammed Siraj