The purpose of India's tour to Sri Lanka should not be based on scoreline

Shikhar Dhawan during nets at SSC yesterday PicAFPWhen you play a superior team you try to raise your game to match their skills and hopefully outshine them But when you play a weaker team you focus only on your skills and how to make the process as clinical as possible You also try to raise the bar for yourself for the purpose of walking out on the field is to become a better player and teamEven in 2015 India were a much superior side in spite of Sri Lanka staging a coup in Galle and it reflected in the result too India won the series 21 after losing the first Test Since then the paths of these two teams couldnt have been more different for India have gone from strength to strength and Sri Lanka have only shown glimpses of getting back to its glory days Therefore the purpose of Indias tour to Sri Lanka shouldnt only be searched in the scoreline India winning the series is a foregone conclusion but also in areas that need attentionimprovementDhawan or MukundShikhar walked into this series as a lastminute replacement for Murali Vijay but walked out with the Man of the Match award in the first Test His quickfire 190 set the tone of the Galle Test on the first day itself and showed why Kohli rates the southpaw highly Interestingly Dhawan had scored a fine century at the same venue two years ago Even though India didnt tour overseas a tour to SL and West Indies doesnt really qualify as an overseas assignment anymore Dhawan lost his place in the Test side since then His career provides an interesting case study His consistent ODI numbers get him a place in the T20 team his poor Test and T20 returns put his ODI place in jeopardy and then his good ODI form lands him in the team playing in whites RinserepeatA delicious subplotOnce again his knock at Galle has presented a delicious subplot to an otherwise lopsided series mdash what should be Indias opening combination Mukund was picked ahead of Dhawan in the squad and has also scored runs in the second innings One must also appreciate his presence close to the bat as a fielder for the search for a solid closein fielder is perennially on If Rahul is fit which reportedly he is one of the two lefthanders might have to make way The Indian team under Kumble followed a protocol of handing over the slot to its original owner if he went missing because of an injury If the team under Shastri follows the same rule Rahul will walk into the playing XI But if that happens who goes outLuxury of timeWhenever Dhawan scores he scores at a fast clip and therefore provides the team enough time to take 20 wickets While the luxury of time is precious on flat tracks does it matter so much in todays day and age where most Tests finish within four days Itll be worth understanding the impact of a runaball century over a more sedate Test ton on the outcome of a fourday Test Since Dhawan has been around for a while its prudent to reassess if hes the man to open in overseas Tests for they are in plenty starting 2018 While he has scored a Test ton in New Zealand his returns elsewhere arent very encouraging On the other hand Mukund hasnt got a long enough run to restart his Test career and if gets dumped again he might not feature in the squad let alone play in the XI once Vijay returnsThe other thought could be to use the remaining two Tests of this series as an audition to finalise the third opener and that can happen if Rahul is told to cool his heels in spite of being fit and available for selection These are early days in the ShastriKohli partnership and this decision will tell us a bit more about how both are likely to function in the future