Ace batsman Mayank Agarwal has been added to India’s T20I squad that reached Dharamsala on Friday (February 25) for the last two games against Sri Lanka. He has been named as a replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been ruled out of the remaining two T20 games.
Incidentally, Ruturaj missed the first game in Lucknow on February 24 (Thursday) because of pain in his right wrist.
“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,” a spokesman for the Indian team had said.
According to reports, Mayank Agarwal has been rushed to Dharamsala because he was available on short notice. The Indian Test players are currently quarantining in Chandigarh and Agarwal is one among them.
“It was not difficult to send [Mayank] Agarwal in because it could easily a bubble-to-bubble transfer. He was in Chandigarh and he was immediately rushed,” a Cricbuzz report stated.
Ruturaj Gaikwad is the third withdrawal from the current squad after the exits of Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar. The two suffered injuries during the last Twenty20 game against West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and could not make it to the team after being initially picked.
India T20 International squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Avesh Khan and Mayank Agarwal.
Meanwhile, the report also added that Ravichandran Ashwin will be available for selection in both Tests against Sri Lanka, starting March 4. While announcing the Test squad for the two-match series, the selectors had said Ashwin’s selection is ‘subject to fitness clearance.’