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Why is Ruturaj Gaikwad not playing today’s 1st T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Lucknow?

Dixit Bhargav
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Why is Ruturaj Gaikwad not playing today's 1st T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Lucknow?

Ruturaj Gaikwad not playing: India have made as many as six changes to their Playing XI for the first T20I in Lucknow.

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.

“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.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

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Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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