Players Fitness rattles India further

At last, Virat Kohli is back in the playing XI, not because of his form, but for Yuvaraj will not be playing today due to dengue fever. Readers must already be aware that this team is already plaggued by the absence of Sachin, Gautam, Harbhajan and Zaheer, and Yuvaraj and Nehra joining this list, is not only a good sign for the series but also for holding the top position in the ICC ODIs.

This added with the worst form of his life, Jadeja is not doing any good to the playing XI. As mentioned in my previous article, there are 2 options for the selectors to do right now, (a) select Irfan Pathan and give him a stint of another 5-6 matches before declaring him for WC or (b) choose a 7-4 combination, with bowlers like Sehwag or Yuvaraj or Raina filling the 5th bowlers spot. This will work out on a ideal scenario when 4 bowlers will bowl best on every other day. But again, if India strength remains in batting, why not choose this 7-4 combination. But the selectors have to choose this at the earliest, since this combination will work out best in WC.

Probably, Kristen and Dhoni will give one more chance for Jadeja to redeem himself before dumping this bits-and-pieces player. This match they are 1 batsman short and will not take a risk of choosing Saurabh Tiwary a debut ODI. Thus it is better that they stick with Jadeja.

Dhoni's reluctance to use Ashwin is well understood - If Bhajji is already in the playing XI, it remains to be seen the effectiveness of another off-spinner in the playing XI.

Sehwag and Raina had gone to India after the first game but both have returned to Dambulla and are available for selection. Ishant trained in the nets after an ankle injury forced him out of the first game and is likely to replace Mithun. In the event of Nehra's absence, Munaf Patel could be drafted in while Kohli could replace Yuvraj.

My Playing XI for today's match against Sri Lanka will be 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Dinesh Karthik, 3 Rohit Sharma, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk),  7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Pragyan Ojha, 11 Munaf Patel

Sri Lanka : 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Suraj Randiv, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Nuwan Kulasekara