Ruturaj Gaikwad not playing: India have made as many as six changes to their Playing XI for the first T20I in Lucknow.
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During the first T20I of the ongoing Sri Lanka’s tour of India in Lucknow, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka has won the toss and chose to field.
“We’ll bowl. It’s a very good pitch, we have been bowling well in the last few games, so backing our strengths. Have had a couple of days to recover,” Shanaka told Star Sports at the toss.
Shanaka further confirmed the absence of a couple of doubtful starters who are unavailable due to respective injuries. “We have a couple of injuries – [Dinesh] Chandimal and [Jeffrey] Vandersay are in, they replace [Maheesh] Theekshana and Kusal Mendis,” Shanaka said.
Why is Ruturaj Gaikwad not playing 1st T20I vs Sri Lanka?
Been promoting all sorts of experimentation in the recent matches, India have had to make as many as six changes to their Playing XI from their last T20I against West Indies on Sunday in Kolkata.
While the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar have been ruled out of the series due to injuries, Shardul Thakur has been rested from the squad. Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan, on the other hand, have been benched. A sure starter at the top of the order, batter Ruturaj Gaikwad is missing this match after him complaining of pain in his right wrist.
UPDATE – Ruturaj Gaikwad complained of pain in his right wrist, which is affecting his batting. He was unavailable for selection for the first T20I. The BCCI Medical Team is examining him.@Paytm #INDvSL
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 24, 2022
“We were looking to chase as well, not sure how the pitches in India plays. But we now know we need to bat well, the last time we played here, about 4 years back, the pitch played well. Nothing changes as far as the goals of the team are concerned, need to do the right things as a team, need to keep ticking all the right boxes. Ruturaj [Gaikwad] was supposed to play, but he has a wrist injury and will not play today,” Sharma told Star Sports at the toss.
Meanwhile, wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson, all-rounders Deepak Hooda (debut) and Ravindra Jadeja, fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal have been included into the Playing XI.
