Sri Lanka players depart for New Year tour of India from Colombo

Sri Lanka cricketers left for India from Colombo on Saturday for the limited-overs series, which will be the first assignment for the two teams in the New Year. Sri Lanka will face India in 3 T20Is and as many ODIs from January 3 to January 15.

The Sri Lankan team, led by captain Dasun Shanaka left from the Sri Lankan HQ premises in Colombo. Sri Lanka Cricket took to social media to share photos of the team's departure. A team photo was taken in the lead-up to the departure while the likes of Wanindu Hasaranga also spoke to the local press.

Sri Lanka, who won the Asia Cup in 2022, will look to pose a stiff challenge to India in the T20Is. The 3-match series will be played in Mumbai, Pune and Rajkot while the ODIs will be played in Guwahati, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.

Sri Lanka had a forgeable trip to India in 2022 as they were clean-swept in T20Is 3-0 before being whitewashed in a



2-Test series.

While Dushmantha Chameera is a big name missing from the squad, Sri Lanka have a power-packed 20-man unit for the T20I and ODI series. Wanindu Hasaranga was named as the vice-captain for T20Is whitle Kusal Mendis will be Shanaka's deputy for the ODIs.

On the other hand, India have not picked some of their big names, including captain Rohit Sharma, former captain Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the T20I series.

Hardik Pandya will lead a young side which has the likes of Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad at the top. Young pacer Mukesh Kumar, and Shivam Mavi were among the ones who got their call-ups for the T20I series.

It will be a test of skills of Hardik Pandya as the skipper, who is expected to take over from Rohit as the full-time T20I captain, will be keen on winning the T20I series and beginning the New Year on a high.