India will begin its tour of Sri Lanka on 28th January 2009 and would play 5 One day Internationals and 1 Twenty20 International. The first four One day Internationals are planned to be day night matches. The captain of the Indian side would be Mahendra Dhoni. The other players selected for this tour are Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. In comparison with the Indian team which has played against England in the 4th and 5th One day Internationals a couple of months back, just two alterations have been made. Virat Kohli and Harbhajan Singh have been rested and replaced by Praveen Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja.
Jadeja’s inclusion
Ravindra Jadeja has been picked up for this tour due to his excellent performance in the Ranji Trophy this season. He accumulated 739 runs at a batting average of 67.18 and made 42 dismissals for Saurashtra. As compared to the other players, his was a superior all round performance. In the previous year, Jadeja was a member of the Rajasthan Royals franchise which won the IPL (Indian Premier League) trophy. He was also a part of the Under-19 India roster which won the World Cup. Taking all of the above into consideration, it is not astonishing that Jadeja was offered a place on this tour.
Pace attack
When the Indian team for the series against England was selected, Irfan Pathan was chosen ahead of RP Singh which was criticized by some people. However, Irfan Pathan has been retained for the Sri Lanka tour. The pace attack also includes Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan. Praveen Kumar is a medium pacer who would support this attack. In the Ranji Trophy, Praveen Kumar did not figure amongst the leading wicket takers, however he was a significant cricketer of the Uttar Pradesh squad which was one of the teams in the final. Also, he had bowled economical and consistent spells against Australia in the previous year in the CB Series finals. Taking into account this performance, it was a bit surprising that he was not included in the One day Internationals against England.
Spin attack
Harbhajan Singh would not be able to bowl due to a hamstring injury. Pragyan Ojha, who is a left arm spinner and was on the bench during the series against England has been retained for the Sri Lanka tour. One thing to note is that the Indian captain would have several efficient spin options comprising of Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan. In the recent series against England, Yuvraj Singh bowled several overs.
Batting scenario
In the previous year, during the One day Internationals in Sri Lanka, Virat Kohli delivered an impressive performance in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Surprisingly, he has not been included in the current roster. On the contrary, Rohit Sharma has been selected in spite of an inconsistent display at the international level. The basis for this selection is his good performance in the CB Series in Australia previous year and in the Ranji Trophy this year.