The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday night announced the Indian squad for their forthcoming limited overs series away to Sri Lanka. With many of their first team regulars currently in England for the World Test Championship Final, the BCCI have decided to give chances to several youngsters for this tour against Sri Lanka which will see India play three T20I’s and three One Day Games.

This Indian squad for Sri Lanka will be led by Shikhar Dhawan, with fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar named as vice-captain. This Indian squad also sees maiden International call-ups for Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya- all of whom impressed in the 2021 VIVO Indian Premier League. Prithvi Shaw, Manish Pandey and Varun Chakravarthy also got recalled to the squad.

There was also something to celebrate for Punjab Kings fans following BCCI’s squad announcement update, as two of their young fast bowlers- Arshdeep Singh and Ishan Porel, have been named as net bowlers for the series against Sri Lanka. This will be Arshdeep Singh’s first foray with the senior team, while Ishan Porel was picked as net bowler for India’s tour to Australia as well at the end of 2020.

Their selection would feel like vindication for the Punjab Kings pacers, both of whom had noteworthy domestic seasons. Arshdeep Singh played all but two games for Punjab Kings in IPL 2021, picking up seven wickets at an impressive economy rate which was just marginally above eight runs an over. The 22-year-old starred in that thrilling win over Rajasthan Royals in their season opener, bowling the final over of the game and dismissing Sanju Samson.

Ishan Porel is another young pacer who impressed in the domestic circuits. He was West Bengal’s spearhead in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season, getting them all the way to the final. Ishan Porel also was consistently among the wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare trophy as well in 2021.

Porel, Arshdeep along with the rest of the net bowlers and the Indian squad will be on Sri Lankan for the better part of this month, as they play three One Day Internationals and three T20Is, with the series set to begin with an ODI on June 13 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.