A bunch of fresh faces will be desperate to make their make when India's young squad of top performers in the IPL face an under-fire Sri Lanka in the series opener.

A few combinations will be tried out during the limited overs series which got delayed by five days due to COVID-19 cases in the Sri Lankan camp. The series comprises three ODIs and as many T20s.

Expect Prithvi Shaw to open alongside captain Shikhar Dhawan, while seniors Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are expected to find automatic slots in the playing XI.

However, there are multiple contenders for other slots.

Will it be Devdutt Padikkal or Ruturaj Gaikwad for No 3 slot? Will Suryakumar Yadav's 360 degree hitting ability be used or Manish Pandey get a final chance to show some consistency?

Will Krishnappa Gowtham's off-spin and big hits be preferred over Krunal Pandya's left-arm darts along with cheeky batting skills? How is Rahul Chahar placed against Yuzvendra Chahal, who hasn't been in best of form of late?

And who will don the big gloves? Is it Rahul Dravid's protege Sanju Samson or the mercurial Mumbai Indians man Ishan Kishan?

India's bench strength has been a matter of envy for all top cricketing nations and has allowed two national teams to compete in different parts of the globe in COVID times.

While there are six uncapped players in this Indian line-up, Dravid had recently made it clear that it will be difficult to provide game time to all the available payers.

For Sri Lanka, they will be looking to get back to winning ways after a poor showing in England, getting whitewashed in both the three-match ODI and T20I series.

Dasun Shanaka is their 10th captain in nearly five years, and barring a classy batsman like Dhananjaya de Silva and a steady pacer in Dishmantha Chameera, this team lacks quality to challenge the might of the Indian team led by Shikhar Dhawan.

The suspension of Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella due to bio-bubble breach in UK along with injury to former skipper Kusal Perera puts Sri Lanka in a tight spot.