Sri Lanka tour begins with warm-up game, focus on Rohit, Dhawan

 

Photo: BCCI

New Delhi: After four months of limited overs cricket, Team India will again don the whites in the two-day warm-up game against President's XI starting from Friday, ahead of the three-Test series against Sri Lanka and unlike most cases there are a few spots up for grabs in the Indian side for which the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Abhinav Mukund and Hardik Pandya will fight. Back from an injury lay-off, Rohit will like to take this opportunity to claim a stake in the longest format of the game. He last played a Test match against New Zealand in October last year, did not feature in the Test series against England, Bangladesh and Australia during the home season. Rahul, who had a run of six fifties in seven innings in the Australia series, is also back in the squad after recuperating from the shoulder surgery that ruled him out of the Indian Premier League, the Champions Trophy and the West Indies series. He is certain to open the innings but there are question marks lingering over his opening partner. With Murali Vijay inured, all eyes will be on Dhawan, who was dropped from the Test side after failing to score big. He was in scintillating form in the recently concluded Champions Trophy and captain Kohli would hope he can carry the momentum into red ball cricket. Both Rohit and Dhawan will be looking at the practice game to spend as much time as possible at the crease to stake their claim for a place in the playing XI in the first Test against Sri Lanka, starting July 26 at Galle. The practice game at the BRC Grounds at Colombo will also be Ravi Shastri's first assignment with the Indian team following his much-publicised appointment as head coach for a two-year tenure earlier this month. Since it is a two-day game, a team can test all the players of its squad and India are expected to check all the weapons in their armoury. All the Indian batsmen and bowlers will get a look in and skipper Virat Kohli is expected to decide his best possible combination for the playing XI for the first Test depending on their performances in the coming two days. The match will also provide Kohli a chance to check his bowling unit, which features the pace duo of Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami who are making a comeback. All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was left out for the final two Tests against Australia due to a shoulder injury, is also back in the squad while pacer Umesh Yadav looks a certainty after a splendid domestic season. Keeping in mind the slowish and turning nature of Sri Lankan pitches, India have fielded a three-man strong spin attack with chinaman Kuldeep Yadav finding a slot alongside Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravinda Jadeja. The trio too would be eyeing to outsmart each other in the practice game in order to catch the attention of skipper Kohli. India Squad: Virat Kohli (C), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.