Virat Kohli rested for Sri Lanka Twenty20 International series

Virat Kohli, after his stellar performance in the series against Australia in Australia, has been rested for the three-match Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Monday (February 1).

Manish Pandey, who scored a magnificent century in the last One-Day International of the five-match series against Australia to lead India to a consolation win, has been included in the squad while Pawan Negi, who has been doing well in the limited-overs format for Delhi in domestic cricket, has been called up in the 15-member squad.

Negi scored 173 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2015-16 at an average of 86.50 to go with his six wicket from nine games. The all-rounder continued his good form from the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16 where he picked up 16 wickets in nine games and scored 170 runs at an average of 85.00.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who suffered broken thumb during the series in Australia, has been included while Ajinkya Rahane, who also suffered hand injury, has been retained in the squad and is expected to be fit ahead of the series.Rishi Dhawan and Gurkeerat Singh Mann, who stayed back in Australia as replacement for the duo, have been dropped from the squad.

The two teams will play the three T20Is in Pune, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam on February 9, February 12 and February 14 respectively before heading to Bangladesh to play the Asia Cup 2016, which will be played in T20 format for the first time.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt, wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pawan Negi.