Will India tweak their combination to fit in Rinku Singh?

Will Rishabh Pant continue at No.3 for the side?

Prior to the T20 World Cup in the USA & the Caribbean, Rishabh Pant had batted at No.3 only thrice since the start of 2019. But at the mega event, India deployed the left-hander as a full-time No.3 and gave him the license to take down the opposition bowlers from ball one.

The Pant experiment failed in the knockouts — he registered scores of 4 & 0 in the semis and final, respectively — but the 26-year-old’s cameos played a massive role in India winning all their games in the group stage and the Super 8s. 

In India’s first five games of the T20WC, Pant crossed the 20-run mark four times and every one of those knocks came at a strike rate over 135.00. He counter-punched when the side were behind the eight ball and helped keep the momentum going in games where the openers had gotten the team off to a flier.

It will be interesting to see if the new head coach, Gautam Gambhir, shares the same vision as his predecessor and sees Pant as a long-term No.3 in T20Is.

The Sri Lanka T20Is should give us a good idea.

Will India stick with Shivam Dube or blood-in Riyan Parag?

Shivam Dube played each of India’s eight games at the T20WC. The left-hander made a pretty slow start to the competition, but stepped up in the crunch moments. His 27 (16) in the final, batting at No.6, was crucial to the Men in Blue beating the Proteas and lifting the title. 

What will be interesting to see is if India continue with Dube in the middle-order or blood-in someone like Riyan Parag, with one eye on the future.

Parag, as a batter, is far more versatile than Dube and, just like his compatriot, he is also capable of sending down a few overs. Dube might have enjoyed a good series with the ball against Zimbabwe —  taking 3 wickets at an average of 21.00 —  but, truth be told, his bowling is not a dealbreaker in this case.

Who among these two ends up starting will give us an indication of the direction the new management are planning to go. 

Despite Dube’s spin-bashing ability, one reckons Parag might end up getting the nod if the management feel he is ready.

Will Rinku Singh get a game?

Gill, Jaiswal, Pant, Suryakumar, Hardik, Axar. India’s top six is pretty much locked, there is no way in for Rinku Singh — in the top six —  unless one of the incumbent specialist batters get injured.

The only way Rinku can end up getting a game in this series, then, is if India decide to play an extra specialist batter, something they did not do in the entirety of the T20WC. 

For that, however, they will have to either drop Washington Sundar or push Washington down to No.8 and play only three other bowlers. The latter will leave the side really short on the bowling front and give the bowling unit no margin for error.

As far as dropping Washington is concerned, that seems very unlikely, given he is not only Ravindra Jadeja’s replacement, but is coming on the back of a Player of the Series showing against Zimbabwe.

All said and done, it looks like Rinku might finish the series warming the bench.

Bishnoi + two seamers or three specialist seamers + Axar & Washington?

The final spot in the starting XI is likely to come down between Ravi Bishnoi and Khaleel Ahmed. 

Who among these two ends up starting might depend on Hardik Pandya’s bowling workload.

If the management feel Hardik needs to bowl a lot, that will open the door for Bishnoi to slot in as a third spinner, much like how Kuldeep Yadav did in the latter stages of the T20WC. 

But if Gambhir & Co. won’t be willing to risk Pandya in this series, then Khaleel might end up getting the nod. Having Khaleel in the XI as the third seamer will enable Suryakumar to either use Pandya with the ball sparsely, or not use him with the ball at all. 

India's likely XI vs Sri Lanka

Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Riyan Parag, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj

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