India hands four debut caps ahead of 2nd T20I against Sri Lanka, BCCI shares video

The second T20I between Sri Lanka and India had to be pushed a day forward after Krunal Pandya tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. Along with him, eight players who were in close contact with him too had to undergo the quarantine period owing to precautionary measures. What came as a sigh of relief is that Shikhar Dhawan is good to go with four other batters in Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Nitish Rana.

The team had to deal with a blow ahead of the game, but the side had few strong options that enabled them to put up a team for the match. The playing XI of India now has five batters for the rest of the series. The team had to make as many as seven changes to the side for this ongoing second match. Thus, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and bowler Chetan Sakariya have now made their debuts for India.

Wearing the Indian blues is a special feeling for any player and it is now an opportunity for these youngsters to display their flair in the absence of the key players. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took it to Twitter to share the video wherein the 4 players were handed over their India caps. BCCI captioned the video as “Big moment for the four! T20I caps handed over to @devdpd07, @Ruutu1331, @NitishRana_27& @Sakariya55! #TeamIndia #SLvIND”

🎥Big moment for the 4⃣! 👏 👏

T20I caps handed over to @devdpd07, @Ruutu1331, @NitishRana_27 & @Sakariya55! 👍 👍 #TeamIndia #SLvIND

Follow the match 👉 https://t.co/Hsbf9yWCCh pic.twitter.com/E4OzrlG4Sx

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 28, 2021

Big day for the four players as they make their India debuts

The team that was selected for the Sri Lanka tour was already highly anticipated to do well under the watchful eyes of Coach Rahul Dravid. The side had a good mix of young and experienced players and now that some of the main players couldn’t be in the action, the stage is all set for the debutants to exude their fiefdom.

All of the four, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Chetan Sakariya had impressed everybody with their performances in the domestic circuit and then the IPL. India has taken a 1-0 lead in the T20I series after having clinched the ODI series 2-1 against Sri Lanka.