IND vs SL / Will Ashwin return to Team India? Captain Rohit made a big gesture

IND vs SL: The Indian cricket team is close to getting a ticket for the semi-finals in the fourth consecutive World Cup. Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, Team India has won all its 6 matches so far in the tournament. Now on Thursday 2 November, the Indian team will face Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The hope is that Team India will win this match and make it to the semi-finals, but eyes will be on whether captain Rohit will make any changes in the playing eleven to achieve this victory. There are no clear indications from what Rohit said a day before the match.

The performance that every Indian fan was expecting from Team India in the World Cup 2023 has been seen so far. If one looks more closely at the performance of Team India in the World Cup and before that, then it would not be wrong to say that captain Rohit Sharma's team has done better than expected. Every player who has got a chance has played his role at some point or the other. We would expect to see something similar against Sri Lanka.

Will Rohit retain Shreyas?

However, the question is who will get a chance in the playing eleven of this match? Obviously, out of 11 players, at least 9 players will remain the same, there may be a change in just one or two places. First of all, it is clear that all-rounder Hardik Pandya is still out. In such a situation, it is certain that Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami will play.

All eyes will be on Shreyas Iyer, who has failed except for one innings and his weakness, especially against short pitch balls, has been troubling. In such a situation, the team has the option to try Ishan Kishan in his place. However, looking at the approach with which the team management is going, it seems that Iyer will get one more chance.

Three pacers or Ashwin's return?

Now let's talk about bowling. Team India has used at least three fast bowlers in the entire tournament. As long as Hardik Pandya was fit, 4 pacers including him were in the playing eleven of Team India. Hardik is not there at the moment and hence there have been only three fast bowlers in the last 2 matches. Then considering the favorable pitch of Mumbai, there is a possibility of fielding only 3 pacers. A day before the match, captain Rohit also said in the press conference that all the bowlers are absolutely fit and no one wants to rest at this time. From this it seems that there is no hope for change.

However, the question remains whether veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will get a chance? Spin-all-rounder Ashwin got a chance only in the first match against Australia, in which he took 2 wickets. Since then the team has taken the field only with the spin pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja. The same is likely to continue in Mumbai also. However, Rohit did not say anything clearly and just hinted that if needed, Team India can go with three spinners and two pacers. Rohit admitted that the spinners have helped in restricting the runs in the middle overs and hence this option will always be open.

Team India's probable playing 11

Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.