Rahul Dravid, India head coach for the Sri Lanka tour, isn't sure about whether the multi-format arrangement would continue in the future or become a new norm as he feels a lot more discussions are required.
India and Sri Lanka will lock horns in three ODIs and three T20Is, beginning July 13. The likes of Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav are in the white-ball squad captained by Shikhar Dhawan.
Another set of Indian players recently featured in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand. And the same squad led by skipper Virat Kohli will now lock horns with England in the Test series.
Dravid said it is "very hard" to predict whether such a concept in the Indian team set-up would continue in the future.
"This is a unique situation in terms of quarantines and rules that have led to this situation. It's very hard to predict what will happen even on a month-on-month basis," Dravid said during a pre-departure press conference on Sunday.
"With quarantines as structured as they are and travel restricted, at least in the short term this plan allows you to complete tours and engagements.
"India probably had no option for this tour. I'm not sure if it is a long-term solution though, because there are many more stakeholders involved: other boards, broadcasters, sponsors, media rights," he added.
The former Indian skipper admitted that such a setup has come as a respite for some players who were playing all the formats amid the coronavirus pandemic with all travel restrictions in place.
"Certainly, in the short term, this could ease pressure because it's becoming difficult for the same set of players to go through all the restrictions in place to play all formats. So yes, in the short term a good idea but for the long term, it'll need lot more discussions," he added.
India's squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.
Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh.
( With inputs from ANI )
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