Watch: Gautam Gambhir, Head Coach of Team India in Sri Lanka, leads 1st practice

On Tuesday, July 23, Gautam Gambhir oversaw his first practise session as the Indian Cricket Team’s head coach. The Men in Blue are now in Sri Lanka ahead of their three Twenty20 Internationals and numerous One-Day Internationals against the Island Nation.

Together with his players and support staff, Gambhir, who was just named India’s new head coach to succeed Rahul Dravid, travelled from Mumbai to Pallekele via Colombo on Monday.

He witnessed Suryakumar Yadav, the recently appointed T20I captain, and his colleagues begin practice sessions on Tuesday in anticipation of the T20I series, which starts with the opening match on July 27.

After India’s successful T20 World Cup 2024 campaign last month, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirements from the format, bringing the T20I into a critical phase of transformation. In addition to Suryakumar being named captain, Hardik Pandya has been replaced as vice captain by Shubman Gill. Gambhir hopes to collaborate with Shubman and Suryakumar to help India maintain their supremacy in Twenty20 international cricket.

In addition, a number of youthful and energetic players will want to establish themselves against the Sri Lankan team captained by Charith Asalanka and guarantee their places in the Indian T20I lineup.

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The Indian squad just finished a productive visit in Zimbabwe earlier this month. A young team captained by Shubman lost the opening game of the five-game T20I series, but they overcame it to win the remaining four games. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma are among the unexpected omissions from that team, but quite a few players have been kept. Moreover, Mukesh Kumar, who shared the most wickets during that tour, is not included.

Also Read: Suryakumar Yadav, the skipper, steps out on the Pallekele ground ahead of the T20Is against Sri Lanka

However, following their elimination in the first round of the 2024 T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka will want to make a successful comeback. Because they participated in the recently concluded Lanka Premier League, Sri Lankan players have been in T20 mode for a while.