Shaky Sri Lanka take on Favourites India

Galle: The three test series between India and Sri Lanka is starting from Wednesday at Galle International Stadium.

Going into the first Test of the series on Wednesday, the Virat Kohli-led side will have in their mind their previous tour to the island nation in 2015, when they bounced back from a 0-1 deficit to a 2-1 win and gradually ascend to the top of the ICC Test rankings.

Combining the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, India have lost only one out of 23 Tests (against Australia at Pune) since that defeat in Galle. Heading in to the game, India's only headache is the loss of opener Lokesh Rahul, who was down with viral fever and ruled out of the first Test.

In such a case, Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan are most likely to open the innings unless Kohli and the team management promote Cheteshwar Pujara as the opener.

The middle order looks more or less a settled unit with Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and stumper Wriddhiman Saha, while Rohit Sharma looks set to be back to the playing XI.

The bowling department will have the world class spin twins of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, who will be playing his 50th Test. Besides that, if Kohli decides to go with five bowlers, there is no doubt he will go in with an extra spinner in chinaman Kuldeep Yadav.

On the other hand, the hosts are in a transitional phase after the retirements of stalwarts Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

There has also been a change to their support staff after Graham Ford stepped down and was replaced by fielding coach Nic Pothas on an interim basis.

For the Tests against India, the Sri Lankans have former cricketers Chaminda Vaas and Hashan Tillakaratne as bowling and batting coaches respectively.

With Chandimal ruled out of the first game, the onus will be on the young guns to take up the challenge against a formidable Indian team.

Teams from

India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.

Sri Lanka: Rangana Herath (Captain), Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella (WK), Dhananjaya de Silva, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Malinda Pushpakumara, Nuwan Pradeep.

Stats and trivia

• India's record at the ground is not as they have won only one Test at Galle, in 2008 under the captaincy of Anil Kumble.
• This will be R Ashwin's 50th Test match, and his fourth in Sri Lanka. He needs 97 runs to completes 2000 Test runs.

Match facts
July 26-30, 2017
Start time 1000 local (0430 GMT)