India vs Sri Lanka, 1st T20I: Opening conundrum for India - 3 big challenges for India in Guwahati T20I

Ind vs SL: Rohit Sharma has been rested, Shikhar Dhawan is back and hence, he will walk out to open the innings with KL Rahul.

Guwahati is ready to host the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka - there are big posters of Virat Kohli and Lasith Malinga all around the city and one cannot miss the rather loud buildup to the first match. Amid all this, India have a series to win, they have three matches to sort out the muddle they seem to find themselves in T20Is and they have to figure out a way to chalk down the players who will win them the world challenge later this year in Australia.

India's Shikhar Dhawan (AP)

Here in this article, we take a look at the three challenges which could also be seen as three opportunities for the Indian team.

The opening conundrum

Rohit Sharma has been rested, Shikhar Dhawan is back and hence, he will walk out to open the innings with KL Rahul. There is no doubt that Rohit will be the man when India travel down under and that KL Rahul is too good to not be his opening partner. What this effectively means is that Shikhar Dhawan has this tournament to stake his claim for this particular role. His strike rate in the recent T20Is has seen an increase, but he needs to be far more consistent and far more aggressive up front against the new ball.

In the recent matches, he has not been as prolific - he has scored 272 runs in 12 innings at an average of 22.66 with a strike rate of 110.56.

Wrist spin or the lack of it

In the recent past, the Indian management has not been too keen to play both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the shortest format. While this has extended the batting order, it deprives Kohli of an attacking option in the middle overs. Will India persist with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar as the two spinners or will they give Chahal and Kuldeep a go remains to be seen!

The Dasun Shanaka-threat

The all-rounder has been in brilliant form in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League where he smashed 9 sixes in an innings. The majority of his runs in T20Is have come while batting at number where he has scored 128 runs at a strike rate of 164.10.

Against this Indian attack, Shanaka will be a big threat and can take the game away from the hosts in the middle phase if the plans are not in place to pluck him out of action in the nascent stages os his innings.