"Young Indian powerhouse"- Salman Butt hails India's white-ball squad for SL tour

Former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt is impressed with India's white-ball squad, which is set to tour Sri Lanka in July. The 36-year-old believes the squad has a great mixture of youth and experience, thanks to their dazzling performances in the IPL.

In a video on his YouTube Channel, Salman Butt spoke about the additions of openers like Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad alongside skipper Shikhar Dhawan. He feels the selectors have rightly rewarded these players based on their domestic and IPL performances.

Salman Butt also opened up on the selection of wicketkeepers Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson. The duo did really well in the IPL and have the potential to be genuine match-winners.

"This Indian team is a young powerhouse. If you look at their captain, he is one of the top Indian players of recent times and has played all formats. We saw Prithvi Shaw's brilliant record in the IPL. Then they have Devdutt Paddikkal, who scored a hundred in the IPL, and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who played at a strike-rate of 180 without hitting a single six. They also have Ishan Kishan and Saju Samson, two sensational wicketkeeper-batsmen," Salman Butt said.

Salman Butt on India's bowling department

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, vice captain.Has a nice ring to it. #SLvIND

— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) June 10, 2021

Salman Butt was also impressed with the variety India had in its bowling department. With the likes of Rahul Chahar and Yuzvendra Chahal as the leg-spin options, Krunal Pandya, the left-arm spinner, and Kuldeep Yadav with his left-arm wrist spin complete the spin department.

In pace, vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the most experienced player, with Chetan Sakariya being the young gun to watch out for. In this regard, Salman Butt said:

"There are two leg-spinners, one left-arm spinner, one left-arm wrist spinner in Kuldeep Yadav. There is a good bowling attack two in the pace department with the experience of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. So there is every kind of variety that you need. Their experience of having played domestic and India A cricket has been incredible. They will go to Sri Lanka as favorites."