India vs Sri Lanka: The white ball series in July most important for these four discarded cricketers

India cricket team (Picture for representation)

Colombo, June 28: India will begin their white ball series against Sri Lanka next month, and Shikhar Dhawan will lead a second-row Indian side in the Island. It reflects the bench depth of Indian cricket team as the frontline players will be engaged in a bilateral Test series against England but the series against Lanka cannot be undermined as it has its own significance, at least for a few individuals.

There are some cricketers who have faded in recent times after a clutch of modest outings and also because of the rush of exciting new faces to the team's scheme of things. In the year of T20 World Cup, this series holds utmost importance for them, a good chance to notify the powers that be of their existence.

MyKhel takes a peep at four of them.

1. Kuldeep Yadav

The glory days of KulCha (Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal) are far behind us. While Chahal is still very much a part of India's ODI and T20I plans, Kuldeep is struggling to find a place in either formats and has even pushed down the pecking order at Kolkata Knight Riders, his IPL team. The 26-year-old chinaman bowler needs some special outings to beat frontrunner Ravindra Jadeja and newbies like Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Rahul Chahar etc.

2. Sanju Samson

It was not a long ago that Sanju Samson was touted as the successor of MS Dhoni at least in the white ball formats. But the rise of Rishabh Pant as an all-format wicketkeeper batsman and his own failings have pushed the Kerala man down the ladder. Now, Sanju also has tough competition from Ishan Kishan. His last international outing for India came against Australia away from home in 2020 and it did not end well. He has now been elevated as Rajasthan Royals captain and hopefully a more mature Sanju will push forward his candidature in Sri Lanka.

3. Manish Pandey

After a start-stop career, Manish Pandey seemed to have lost the place in Indian middle-order and Suryakumar Yadav also has been emerged as another option. Similar to Sanju Samson, Manish too played his last international matches on India's tour to Australia and New Zealand in early 2020. He needs some force efforts in Sri Lanka to come forward, especially since his last 50 was in 2017, and hold forth his claim for a berth in the T20 World Cup squad.

4. Prithvi Shaw

Shaw has been on the sidelines since his travails in Australia and New Zealand. Yes, he has showed blistering form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Mumbai and looked in decent touch for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2021. It has earned him a ticket to Sri Lanka, and he needs to capitalise fully because Rohit Sharma occupies one part of the opening slot while Shikhar Dhawan is rock solid at the other end. Shaw also has this chasing pack of Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad and to break free the 21-year-old Mumbaikar start firing in this series with consistency. It is mandatory for him ahead of the T20 World Cup in October.