Suthar earns Gill's vote as India reshuffle for Galle opener

With dark clouds gathering over the Galle International Cricket Stadium and the ground staff rolling out a giant blue cover for the pitch, Shubman Gill's thoughts were already on a different kind of cover for his side. India's optional practice session a day out from the first Test was light for most, but Manav Suthar's work in the separate nets caught the eye — and the captain's attention is firmly on the all-rounder.

Injuries to Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar have forced India's leadership group — Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir — to look in a "different and slightly untested direction" after building their recent Test approach around all-rounders.

"I think that's where someone like Manav comes in," Gill said on match day minus one when asked about the all-rounder void. "He's got the ability with the bat. Of course, you need a bit of experience, you need some belief and confidence. And that will only come once you're out there, you're playing, you score some runs. And hopefully he does that in the series. He's someone with a great skill with bowling. And he's got the potential to be a really good number eight batsman as well."

Suthar's Test debut came against Afghanistan last month — a non-WTC fixture in which Ravindra Jadeja was rested — and his dual ability as a left-arm spinner who can bat has not been lost on the captain. The Rajasthan all-rounder owns a first-class century and more than 1,000 runs from 51 innings, and he showed his temperament with a 90-ball 41 against SLC XI in the warm-up game, facing more deliveries than all but Devdutt Padikkal and Jadeja.

India had rewarded Saransh Jain with a call-up as a like-for-like Sundar replacement — a left-hand batter and right-arm off-spinner — but Suthar appears to hold the edge for the third spinner and all-rounder's role. The full-strength nets two days out from the Test also hinted that Dhruv Jurel will keep his place ahead of Sarfaraz Khan, who replaced Sai Sudharsan in the squad.

Tight call between Krishna and Brar for second pacer

Life is less straightforward for Gill when it comes to the second pacer. Gurnoor Brar bent his back in the nets two days before the Test and, after picking up 10 wickets (4/77 and 6/68) for India A at Galle last month, has skills the captain appreciates. But Prasidh Krishna — seven Tests old, with hit-the-deck pace and a propensity to improve on the go — is firmly in the frame.

"They both [Gurnoor and Prasidh Krishna] are very skilled bowlers and they bowled really well in the practice match. We have seen how good Gurnoor is with the old ball when nothing is happening," Gill offered. "You need that bit of extra pace, extra bounce. He's obviously very tall as well. But I think Prasidh recently has been bowling the best that I have ever seen him bowl. In red ball and also in white ball. So it will be a very tough decision for us."

Gill confirms Bumrah and Sudharsan ruled out

The bigger concern for India is the absence of two established names. Jasprit Bumrah was initially named in the squad but was ruled out with a knee injury, while Sai Sudharsan was sidelined by a toe niggle after failing to recover as expected. Gill, who was declared fit to lead the side, said the team remains in constant contact with the injured pair.

"Yes, we are in touch with them. There is constant monitoring on players and where they are (in terms of fitness)," Gill said at the pre-match press conference.

The captain described Sudharsan's situation as unfortunate: "Sai's case was quite unfortunate. It looked like he would be able to be a part of the series. But we did constant scans and he wasn't improving as much as we would have liked or expected him to be. So, sometimes you have to take a call from the player's point of view as to whether you want to take that risk."

Gill pointed to the demands of the five-day format as the decisive factor: "The Test match is for 5 days. If it's one-day or T20, then it's a different story. But in the Test match, you don't want to take a risk. I feel that in the Test match, you have more opportunities with other players to come back. For example, if you don't play well on the first day, you get another chance. So, the players have more chances to come back. So, keeping that in mind, we were a little disappointed with Sai and Bumrah."

Despite the setbacks, Gill insisted morale is intact and backed his bench: "But it didn't affect the morale of the team that much that they didn't get the first 11. I feel that whoever is in our 15 or whoever we give a chance in our playing 11 in any condition, they can play well and win the game."

India's probable XI for the series opener reads: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Manav Suthar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and one of Prasidh Krishna or Gurnoor Brar.