India's white-ball newbies start Sri Lankan audition for vacant T20 WC slots

A bunch of fresh faces will be desperate for a fair T20 World Cup audition when India's different-looking yet formidable white-ball squad face an under-fire Sri Lanka in the six-match limited overs contest, beginning with the first ODI on Sunday.

Winning any international series will be paramount but one can expect a few combinations being tried out during a series that got delayed by five days due to a Covid-19 scare in the Sri Lankan camp. The series comprises three ODIs and as many T20s.

Dasun Shanaka is Lanka's 10th captain in four years and barring a classy batsman like Dhananjaya de Silva and a steady pacer in Dishmantha Chameera, this team lacks the quality to challenge the might of the fresh Indian team led by Shikhar Dhawan.

The suspension of Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella due to a bio-bubble breach in the UK along with an injury to former skipper Kusal Perera puts Sri Lanka in a tight spot. If they can manage to win one game, that will be an achievement in itself after a disastrous tour of England.

Expect Prithvi Shaw, the Vijay Hazare Trophy's top scorer to open alongside Dhawan, while seniors Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are expected to find automatic slots in the playing XI.

However, there are multiple contenders for the other slots.

Will it be Devdutt Padikkal or Ruturaj Gaikwad for the number 3 slot? Will Surya Kumar Yadav's 360 degree-hitting ability be used or Manish Pandey get a final chance to show some consistency?

Will Krishnappa Gowtham's off-spin and big hitting be preferred over Krunal Pandya's left-arm darts along with cheeky batting skills? How is Rahul Chahar's ability to be assessed when pitted against Yuzvendra Chahal, who hasn't been in the best of form of late?

And who will don the big gloves? Will it be Rahul Dravid's protege Sanju Samson or the mercurial Mumbai Indians man Ishan Kishan who can really pack a punch?

These are the questions that need to be answered by the team management during the next 11 days in Colombo.

India's bench strength has been a matter of envy for all the top cricketing nations and has allowed two national teams to compete in different parts of the globe in the time of Covid-19.

While Virat Kohli's men are keen to set their dismal Test record in England straight, the team led by Dhawan and coached by Dravid -- the man responsible for creating the pool, will never accept that this is a "second string" outfit taking on the islanders, who are going through their lowest ebb.

A team that has Dhawan and Shaw at the top along with likes of Pandey, Surya Kumar, the Pandya brothers -- Hardik and Krunal -- seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar along with the spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav can be anything but pushovers.

Some of these players are T20I regulars. While the 50-over format is of lesser importance going into the global T20 event in the next three months, both Dravid and Dhawan know the importance of game time.

While there are six uncapped players in this Indian line-up, Dravid had recently made it clear that it would be difficult to provide game time to all the available players.

It is expected that both Dravid and Dhawan would be consulting with Ravi Shastri and Kohli on what they would be looking for from the assortment of players available with them.

One thing is crystal clear. There aren't many slots available in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup and it would need an out-of-the-world show from the rookies to find a slot in the UAE-bound team.

Among the newcomers, Varun Chakravarthy, who will probably be used exclusively in the shortest format, has a good chance of making the World T20 cut and Chetan Sakariya's left-arm seam bowling is an option they would like to look at more.

Chahal and Kuldeep, the pair who could do no wrong till the 2019 World Cup, are both on borrowed time right now and it couldn't have been a better time to face a struggling Sri Lanka.

However, Dhawan himself is still not assured of a ticket to the UAE extravaganza with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul as contenders to open the innings.

Dhawan is someone who can only bat at the top and the skipper himself would like to reassert his supremacy in both formats.

Ditto for Buvneshwar, who would like to see himself in that T20I attack along with Jasprit Bumrah.

The squads:

India: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Surya Kumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini.

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (captain), Dhananjaya De Silva (vice captain), Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ashen Bandara, Minod Bhanuka (wicketkeeper), Lahiru Udara, Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan, Akila Dhananjaya, Shiran Fernando, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Ishan Jayaratne, Praveen Jayawickrema, Asitha Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Isuru Udana.

The match starts at 3 pm IST.