MUMBAI: India’s squad for next month’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka will be announced by Tuesday (July 28).“Yes, the Indian squad for the Sri Lanka Test tour will be selected in the next two days. On Tuesday, we will announce the squad,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told TOI on Saturday.The first Test of the series – expected to be a test of spin by fire for India’s batsmen, who have struggled against quality overseas spin on the tour tracks in recent years – will be played in Galle from August 15-19.Meanwhile, the BCCI will conduct a review of Team India’s white-ball tours of Ireland, England and Zimbabwe in the first half of August.Led by new T20I captain Shreyas Iyer, India suffered a 2-0 series defeat to Ireland – their first T20I series loss to the hosts – before being whitewashed 4-0 by England in the T20I series. Under Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, India then lost the ODI series 2–1 to England, which ended a disappointing tour of the UK.India, however, bounced back with a much better performance in Zimbabwe, defeating the hosts by seven wickets in the opening T20I at the Harare Sports Club on Thursday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The win was Iyer’s first as India’s T20I captain after a seven-match winless run.“We have conducted a review of India’s tours of England, Ireland and Zimbabwe in the early part of August. It could be at the beginning of August. Some of the contracts (of Team India’s support staff) have expired. We will review. In our review meeting, we will discuss everything, including what are the things that went wrong in England. The review meeting will be held after our team returns from Zimbabwe,” Saikia told this paper.
BCCI review to decide on contract extensions for Ten Doeschate and Dilip
The contracts of two members of coach Gautam Gambhir’s support staff have ended following ongoing white-ball assignments, and a decision on their future will be taken during the BCCI’s review meeting after the Zimbabwe tour.The two-year contracts of assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate and fielding coach T Dilip have expired.“Regarding the contract extension of two support staff members, whose contracts have expired, the review committee will decide on their contract extension,” Saikia revealed.There is speculation that the contracts of Ten Doeschate and Dilip may not be renewed.Dilip, who joined the Indian team as part of former coach Rahul Dravid’s support staff, has been a popular figure and is best remembered for introducing the ‘Best Fielder Medal’ presentation after every match. He was the only member of Dravid’s support staff to continue after Dravid, batting coach Vikram Rathour and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey ended their tenure following India’s 2024 T20 World Cup triumph.India’s fielding standards, however, have dropped noticeably in recent months.
