SL vs IND: T Dilip and Paras Mhambrey to assist Rahul Dravid on the tour

Earlier last month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials announced that Rahul Dravid will be the head coach of the team during the Sri Lanka tour sans first-choice players and head coach who are currently in England. Now, the BCCI has also confirmed T Dilip and Paras Mhambrey as the assistant coaches for the limited-overs series.

While the latter’s name didn’t come as a surprise to many, the former caught everyone’s attention. Dilip is a fielding coach at the Hyderabad Ranji team and he also had a stint at India A team. The 39-year-old’s good work was appreciated by former chief selector MSK Prasad. This comes as a shot in the arm for Dilip who will now look to make the most of this golden opportunity during the tour.

According to Cricbuzz, Dilip’s name was discussed before the BCCI finalized him for the Island nation’s tour. The 20-member squad announced by BCCI will now quarantine in Mumbai from June 14 onwards and will leave for Sri Lanka on June 27 after strict 14-day isolation. The Indian team will also have to undergo a three-day soft quarantine on arrival in the Island nation.

Rahul Dravid keen to get a few practice games

Dravid, who is known to be meticulous with planning besides being a good coach, wants the boys to have some sort of practice, starting at least a week prior to the first match of the series. Already it was confirmed that no practise matches will be played before the white-ball matches. But there will be intra-squad games and the BCCI is looking forward to its arrangements. All six international matches will be held at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

In a move that will come as a relief to the 20-member squad, the BCCI has also relaxed some of the mandatory fitness routines like the Yo-Yo test and 2 KM runs in view of the COVID-19 situation in India. The YO-YO test proved to be difficult for Varun Chakravarthy, who initially was named in the T20I squad for the England series before being pulled out due to the failure in the same fitness test.