Injured or Dropped? Here's why Rishabh Pant was sidelined from both T20I and ODI squads vs SL

India announces squads for T20Is and ODIs home series against Sri Lanka starting from first week of January 2023. Team India will host Sri Lanka for three T20Is and three ODIs starting on January 3. The squads had some surprises while some sacking to the vetern players.

Starting with the T20I squad, all the seniors have been dropped from the team, and Hardik Pandya will lead the side while Suryakumar Yadav will be his deputy. For ODIs, Rohit Sharma will be leading the side with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli back in the lineup.

However, veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan has been dropped from the ODIs, which means it might be the end of the road for the left-hander. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is also not part of either squad. However, one big name that didn't make into any squad is Rishabh Pant.

The left-hander is not part of either the T20Is or ODIs against Sri Lanka. Pant showed some great form with the bat in the recently concluded test series against Bangladesh, but his white-ball numbers are not encouraging. In his last 25 T20Is, he has only scored 364 runs at a strike rate of 132.84.

In ODIs, he was also struggling against New Zealand and was not part of the Bangladesh series. Thus, there were a few rumours that he might get dropped from the white-ball series against Sri Lanka in January.

On top of that, Pant has also sustained a knee injury, which he has been carrying for quite a while now, and he will be reporting to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for his rehab. He will spend the next 15 days in the NCA and is likely to join on January 3.

However, some media reports confirm that he will be back before the New Zealand series. The Indian management wants him to get ready before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in February. But it will be a great opportunity for both Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan to do well in Pant's absence to make their mark on the team.