Sri Lanka Tests: Can India’s tryst with injuries open up doors for Sarfaraz ?

The Indian cricket team, often praised for having enough reserves of talent to field two teams simultaneously, is now hard pressed to field a strong playing XI in the upcoming two away Tests against Sri Lanka. A string of injuries, which has reportedly made the team management skeptical about the injury-management at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, has now left Gautam Gambhir with a few Hobson’s choices.

The latest player to be ruled out is southpaw Sai Sudarshan, the preferred choice as No.3, after failing to recover from a toe injury in time. Sudharsan had been in excellent form to score two centuries in as many unofficial Tests against Sri Lanka A before being struck on the toe during the second game. He has since been undergoing rehabilitation at the CoE and the injury is now set to keep him out of the upcoming series.

This comes in the wake of senior paceman Jasprit Bumrah, already out of the series and being replaced by Aquib Nabi. Harshit Rana and allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy are also sidelined with the duo nursing hamstring and quadriceps injuries, respectively, while skipper Shubman Gill is giving the ongoing tour game in Colombo a skip after an impact injury on his hand at the nets.

While Devdutt Padikkal has made a strong case to fill in for Sudarshan at No. 3 after scoring a fine 103 off 112 balls (14 boundaries) against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in the practice game, at least two names are doing the rounds if India announce a replacement for Sudarshan. Sarfaraz Khan, not exactly a favourite of the team management, has been asked to report at CoE for a fitness assessment alongwith 21-year-old Shaikh Rasheed of Andhra Pradesh.

Sarfaraz, known to be a good player of spin, had been given the cold shoulder ever since the home Test series against New Zealand in 2024 which saw him score a gritty century.  He was a part of the tour party in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2024-25, a series where India were routed 4-1 but he failed to get a look-in.

Thereafter, the selectors have shown a surprising indifference to him even in a two-Test series at home against the Proteas where the hosts struggled to cope with the Simon Harmer-led spin attack. In a cryptic message on social media, Sarfaraz posted: ‘’I may not fit in, but I will fight with everything I’ve got.’’

Meanwhile in the tour game on Saturday, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for a two-ball duck at the Nondescripts Cricket Ground in Colombo. Opening the batting alongside KL Rahul on day two of the fixture after the SLC XI declared on their overnight score of 363 for eight, Jaiswal was dismissed caught at gully off the second delivery of the innings from left-arm pacer Vishwa Fernando. Offering no feet movement to the delivery well outside the off-stump channel, Jaiswal flailed his bat wide from his body to offer a simple catch.

The Mumbai southpaw, one of the opening mainstays in the red ball game since his Test debut in 2023, has often struggled with his issues against left-arm pace across the last two seasons. Coupled with his affinity to employ the cut shot often, he has fallen prey to the left-armers with his inability to shy away from his favoured stroke.