Dhoni opts out of first three Sri Lanka ODIs

MS Dhoni has opted out of the first three ODIs against Sri Lanka, citing the need for a break to freshen up ahead of the tour of Australia and the World Cup. Virat Kohli will stand in as captain, and Wriddhiman Saha, who scored a century in the IPL final earlier this year, will take care of wicketkeeping duties. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been rested, making way for Varun Aaron.
Sri Lanka are touring India as a replacement for West Indies, whose players refused to continue with their full tour because of payment structure disputes with the WICB and WIPA.
R Ashwin, who was rested for the West Indies ODIs, came back into the side, replacing chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who joined Sanju Samson and Karn Sharma in the India A squad as the players who have recently spent time in the India squad but have been dropped without getting a cap. Samson had been picked as back-up keeper only when Saha injured himself during the Tests in England. Now fit, Saha takes back his place as No. 2 wicketkeeper-batsman.

While it appears that India are looking to rest some players, Sri Lanka have named a strong squad for the upcoming series with paceman Lahiru Gamage named as the one uncapped player in the 15-man squad.

Squad: Angelo Mathews, Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ashan Priyanjan, Niroshan Dickwella, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Lahiru Gamage, Chaturanga de Silva, Seekuge Prasanna, Suraj Randiv.