India vs Sri Lanka: Upbeat hosts look to carry T20I form over to ODIs as 'Mission 2023' gets underway

Team India will be hoping to kickstart “Mission 2023” on a winning note when they take on Sri Lanka in the first of three one-day internationals in Guwahati on Tuesday.

In a year that witnesses the return of the quadrennial extravaganza that is the 50-over Cricket World Cup, ODIs are of paramount importance and every match in the format is an audition of sorts for players.

Thus for the Men in Blue, who are set to host the 13th edition of the tournament — this time entirely after sharing duties in 1987, 1996 and 2011 — the focus will be as much on the tournament in October and November as it will be on beating the side they just vanquished in the three-T20I series that preceded the one-dayers.

And that means a mix of backing the players they believe could be their match-winners along with experimentation in various departments, the two going hand-in-hand.

Return of the seniors

The biggest talking point ahead of the three-ODI series, which commences at Guwahati’s Barsapara Cricket Stadium is the return of the seniors with skipper Rohit Sharma as well as Virat Kohli and KL Rahul returning to duty after an extended winter break.

The trio had skipped the T20Is against the Asian champions for a variety of reasons — Rohit nursing a finger injury picked up in Dhaka and Kohli and Rahul being granted personal leaves.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who had captained India in their tours of Ireland and New Zealand last year, led on home soil for the first time and collected yet another series win as India bounced back from a defeat in Pune with a commanding victory in Rajkot to begin the new year on a victorious note.

While the BCCI is eyeing Pandya, who led Gujarat Titans to title triumph on IPL debut last year, as their long-term T20I captain, they have continued to back Rohit as their Test and ODI captain with Pandya replacing Rahul as his deputy in the 50-over format.

Pandya thus will get the chance to focus on his personal form; the all-rounder has had a mixed run with the bat in recent months, his 63 against England in the T20 World Cup semi-final among the few bright spots. Pandya, who hasn’t played an ODI since the tour of England, last summer, will hope get a big score or two under his belt in the middle-order, where he is likely to bat alongside the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel among others.

Tough decisions

Captain Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid will be starting the series by making some tough calls with regards to the playing XI. After opening with Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill in the T20Is, the Men in Blue might have to choose between either as Rohit’s opening partner. That however, will be a possibility only if Rahul is overlooked for the same, the chances of which appear slim, at least until the Lucknow Super Giants captain fails in the series opener.

Read: Rohit’s biggest challenge would be to come back into form, says Pathan

The other option for the hosts would be to accommodate Kishan in the middle order if they want to stick with him as their keeper and Rahul as the opener.

And it’s not just the batting department that has to deal with returning familiar faces. Both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami had been named in the ODI squad, the former making the cut after being declared fit by the NCA. However, while Bumrah was ruled out of the series on the eve of the first one-dayer, Shami remains part of the plans and will likely lead the attack.

Which means picking one, or two depending on the combination, from Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik and Mohammed Siraj. With Arshdeep and Umran boasting of unique traits with their left-arm angle and express pace respectively, it certainly looks very tough for Siraj as far as finding a spot in the XI is concerned. Let’s not forget the fact that Pandya is bowling at full tilt at the moment as well and had even taken the new ball in the T20Is against the Lankans.

Lankans look to click as a unit

Sri Lanka certainly are a massively-improved side now and are beginning to show the kind of fight that past teams from the late 1990s to the early 2010s were known for. After taking the cricketing world by surprise with their triumph in the Asia Cup in the UAE last year, winning their first major trophy in nearly a decade, the Lankans put up an equally impressive performance in the first two T20Is against India in Mumbai and Pune before getting outplayed in Rajkot.

Had it not been for the team not capitalising on key moments and performing as a unit, it could very well have been Dasun Shanaka lifting the series trophy at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday instead of Pandya.

Chamika Karunaratne, after all, nearly pulled off a come-from-behind victory in the series opener at Wankhede before Axar held his nerve in the final over to eke out a two-run win for the hosts. Shanaka then led from the front in Pune as he smashed Sri Lanka’s quickest T20I fifty before bowling a superb final over to seal a 16-run win for his side, a performance that he will hope to produce again in the longer white-ball format.

Among the players picked solely for the one-dayers in the trip to India is all-rounder Dunith Wellage, who had starred in a heroic, unbroken sixth-wicket partnership with Charith Asalanka, guiding his team to a series-levelling win against Afghanistan in November, and it remains to be seen if Shanaka and head coach Chris Silverwood retain him in the middle order or not.