Formidable India holds all the aces

Just a couple of months after India left Sri Lankan shores with a gleaming, all-win 9-0 record across formats, the teams are playing each other again. There’s another nine matches lined up, this time in India, with each format getting three games.

It’s like a flashback to the turn of the decade, when India and Sri Lanka seemed to be playing each other every third week. And to complete the symmetry, then too, India was ranked No. 1 in the world in Test cricket and flitting in and out of the top spot in One-Day Internationals.

That top rank in Tests will be safe even if Sri Lanka somehow conjures a 3-0 victory. That possibility will be furthest from the minds of the home team though when it squares off against familiar foes at the Eden Gardens on Thursday (November 16) for the first Test. India will be well within its rights to eye another 9-0 score line. It was utterly dominant in Sri Lanka, and has always been almost impregnable at home. Sri Lanka is yet to win a single Test on Indian soil, losing 10 and drawing the other seven thus far.

The chief dilemma facing Virat Kohli and the team management is likely to be whom to leave out. Overnight showers meant India cancelled its practice session on Wednesday, and as is the norm at Eden Gardens, the entire ground was under covers. The pitch at the venue has been a pacer-friendly one of late, and Kohli said that there was “a lot of grass, which we are looking forward to play on”. With Hardik Pandya rested for this series, it throws up the interesting question of who India will choose in its bowling attack. Kuldeep Yadav has shown he can be an exciting, wicket-taking option, but it’s unlikely the left-arm wrist spinner can get in ahead of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in a home Test after the sort of records the two have stacked up in the past two seasons, and the skills and pedigree each has shown.

Since the pitch looks like it will favour pacers, two spinners should be it for India. Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami are the front-runners to lead the pace attack, and the logical addition should be Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who picked up a match-turning fifer when India last played at Eden Gardens, against New Zealand just over a year ago.

The selection of two openers amongst the trio of M Vijay, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan is equally tricky. Kohli gave a strong hint on match eve that the one to sit out would be Vijay.

While the odds are stacked against Sri Lanka, it should be remembered that it is coming in on the back of a very good Test result – having beaten Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates 2-0.

Rangana Herath rediscovered the magician inside him in that series, conspicuously absent against India, and on his shoulders will rest the burden of Sri Lanka’s bowling once again. Herath, 39, is used to the load, having borne it for several seasons now, but it will help Dinesh Chandimal enormously if the side breaks out of its perpetual ‘in transition’ phase now. The return of Angelo Mathews lends much-needed solidity in batting and nous in the backroom, but even though Sri Lanka will feel more positive heading into this particular series after the whitewash it experienced at home, it will still very much be the underdog.

And for his part, Kohli has promised – once again – that the Indian team will not let up in intensity and still go in trying to win every single match. “We have to get back into Test mode, create momentum from this game and carry it in this series and take it forward because we're playing Test cricket straight after as well,” said the Indian captain. “Nice to come back to Test cricket because the challenges are always different.”

Teams (from):

India: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma.

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, Lahiru Gamage, Lakshan Sandakan, Vishwa Fernando, Dasun Shanaka, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Roshen Silva.