Substantial knocks from skipper Shubman Gill and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal will fill the remaining blank columns as India push for their first overseas Test series victory in three years during the second and final match against Sri Lanka, starting here on Sunday.
India’s last Test rubber win abroad was against the West Indies in July 2023.
Since then, India lost to Australia and shared the series with South Africa and England away from home.
In this interim, the defeats at home against New Zealand and South Africa also dimmed the halo around this Indian Test outfit.
But Gill’s side regained some ground with a 165-run romp in the first Test at Galle, where Sri Lankan spinners often spun a web around visiting batters.
Despite the inexperience in the Sri Lankan ranks, the result might have come as a relief for the team and head coach Gautam Gambhir after two shattering home defeats against New Zealand and South Africa.
The Galle win has certainly released a pressure valve around the team.
If India happen to complete a 2-0 clean sweep, they will have a chance to go up to the fourth spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) rankings with 57.58 percentage points.
There is a high possibility that Bangladesh, who are currently fourth in WTC table with 66.67 percentage points post Darwin victory, will lose the second Test against Australia at McKay and drop down to fifth spot with 55.56 percentage points.
Amidst the general elation, India will certainly welcome some runs from Gill and Jaiswal.
On the periphery, Gill appears in solid touch, having scored two hundreds in his last six innings.
But scratch the cover, there is a tinge of weakness, a pattern-setting dismissals against spin, particularly the left-arm orthodox variation.
True to that failure, Gill fell twice to Prabath Jayasuriya at Galle, and he will certainly like to set that unwanted record straight, a blemish on an otherwise impeccable run as team leader.
As the skipper, Gill has managed to score 1100 runs in 10 Tests at an average of over 73, a remarkable leap from 1893 runs from 32 Tests at 35 before taking over the team’s reins.
Then there is also this little matter of registering the first overseas Test series win under his watch, a matter of pride and yardstick of success for any captain.
If Gill can merge those two tasks, then India could be hard to stop at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
Jaiswal offers a slightly deeper problem. After scoring a hundred against the West Indies at New Delhi last year, the opener has made just one fifty in his last eight innings.
Similar to Gill’s failings against spinners, Jaiswal has developed a worrying habit of getting dismissed while playing cut or chip against pace bowlers.
After getting run out in the first innings at Galle, Jaiswal got out in that fashion in the second essay.
The left-hander tried to cut Asitha Fernando’s short pitched delivery, only to feather it to stumper Niroshan Dickwella.
It offered little surprise when Jaiswal spent an extended time at nets on Friday at the SSC to rectify that part of his game.
India pacers and bowling coach Morne Morkel targeted that line outside the off-stump, trying to lure Jaiswal into that cut or chip over point.
But the 24-year-old was equal to the task, letting the balls go past the stumps harmlessly.
Now, if he can filter that restraint to the real match atmosphere then another big score might be there for his taking.
Kuldeep Yadav is the third member of the eleven that struggled to make an impact at Galle. He had a disappointing outing, taking a solitary wicket from 25 overs across two innings despite the pitch offering considerable assistance.
Kuldeep was also the most expensive among the bowlers, leaking over four runs an over in the opening Test.
The temptation will be to replace the left-arm wrist spinner with off-spinner Saransh Jain, a strategic move considering the influx of left-arm batters in the Lankan line-up.
But dropping a senior bowler after just one match might just give the wrong signals or will the management indeed take that harsh step?
Kuldeep’s absence from the nets on Friday could be linked to his possible omission from the eleven here, but a final call depends a lot on the pitch here, which was watered in the last two days to retain the hold.
From a Sri Lankan perspective, their top-order needs to show a lot more nous to stay in the middle than just playing a plethora of shots and getting out.
They will hope that inclusion of in-form Kamil Mishara and Sahan Arachchige will bring a positive turn here.
Otherwise, another lop-sided contest will be in the offing.
India: Shubman Gill (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Auqib Nabi, Sarfaraz Khan.
Sri Lanka: Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Kamindu Mendis, Sahan Arachchige, Sonal Dinusha, Niroshan Dickwella, Keshara Nuwantha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Milan Rathnayaka, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando.