Kohli rested for Sri Lanka ODIs, Rohit to lead

Days after India skipper Virat Kohli hit out at the cramped schedule of the team ahead of the crucial South Africa tour next month, the BCCI selection committee on Monday rested the 29-year-old batsman for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, starting December 10.

The BCCI, however, retained Kohli in the squad for the third and final Test to be hosted at the Ferozshah Kotla here from December 2-6.

For the ODI rubber Kohli's deputy in limited overs Rohit Sharma will take over the reins of the side, which has Punjab pacer Siddarth Kaul as the lone new face.

The ODI series will also see the return of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was given a break for the ongoing three-match Test series against the Lankans.

The first ODI will be played at Dharamsala on December 10, followed by games at Mohali (December 13) and Visakhapatnam (December 17). The 50-over series will be followed by a three-match T20I series, starting December 20.

"Current India captain Virat Kohli has been rested for the ODI series," a BCCI statement read.

Before the start of the second Test in Nagpur, which India won by an innings and 239 runs within three and a half days, Kohli criticised the board for leaving very less time to prepare for a challenging tour.

"As usual cramped for time, which I think we needed to assess in future as well because we very easily assess the team when we go abroad but we don't look at how many days we have got to prepare before we go to a particular place to play," Kohli had said.

India will finish their limited overs matches against Sri Lanka on December 24 (final T20I) before they fly off to South Africa on December 28, with the first Test starting on January 5. They play a two-day warm-up tie, starting on December 30 at Boland Park, Paarl.

In South Africa, the Kohli-led side will play three Tests, five One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).

Squads:

For third Test: Virat Kohli (Captain), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-Captain), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar.

For ODI series: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul.

--IANS

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