The injury to Jasprit Bumrah has dampened the enthusiasm surrounding the return of regulars for the upcoming one-day international against Sri Lanka

On the eve of the one-day international series that India will play against Sri Lanka, they were left with a mixed feeling because, on the one hand, they will have stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returning to the side, but, on the other hand, unfit pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will yet again miss the action due to injury.

rahBum was supposed to contribute to the bowling attack in the three-match series that will begin on Tuesday in Guwahati, but his return has been further postponed because he has not fully recovered from the stress fracture in his lower back. This injury has caused him to miss a number of assignments, including the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup.

Whether or not the pace spearhead will be available for the home white-ball series against New Zealand beginning on January 18, and whether or not he will be in contention for the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series beginning on February 9, is currently unknown at this time.

Bumrah’s late withdrawal from the One-Day International World Cup, which will be held in India in October and November of this year, has only served to deepen the mystery that already surrounded the pace bowler’s recuperation and rehabilitation process.

However, the return of old guards Rohit, Kohli, and KL Rahul in addition to Shreyas Iyer will provide the hosts a major boost as they eye the series after having won the T20 Internationals against Sri Lanka.

The Indian One-Day International (ODI) schedule is jam-packed with 15 matches in the 10-month window leading up to the World Cup in October-November. The Asia Cup is not included in this count. The key will be to not only get the balance right, but also manage the workload while competing in the Indian Premier League and the highly anticipated Australia Test series at the same time.

The management of the squad was caught off guard when they received news that Bumrah had had yet another injury scare. The selection of the best five batters is complicated further by the fact that there are so many strong candidates.

When they are in good form, Rohit and Kohli would pick themselves to open the batting and bat third, respectively, while it will be difficult to drop Ishan Kishan and Iyer.

Kishan recently played in his final one-day international (ODI) in Bangladesh, where he hit a career-high 210 runs and played a fantastic knock.

It’s possible that the youngster will go head-to-head with Shubman Gill for the opening spot with Rohit. Although Gill was rested for the series against Bangladesh in December of the previous year, he has demonstrated his value in the One-Day International format.

Iyer had a phenomenal year in one-day internationals, scoring 724 runs in 15 innings at an average of 55.69 runs per game. Because of his ability to switch the strike and defend against spin in the middle overs, he served as the linchpin of India’s batting lineup, which is an essential ability on sub-continent wickets.

Then there is the phenomenon known as Suryakumar Yadav, whose successes in the Twenty20 format have compelled the management to investigate his potential in the Fifty Over format.

The middle-order hitter is coming off of an unbeaten 112 off of 51 balls scored during their victory against Sri Lanka in the third and final T20I that took place in Rajkot.

It was Surya’s third century in the format in seven months, making him the first player in the history of the game to register three T20I tonnes while not opening the batting. In addition, he did so without opening the batting in any of those three centuries.

His One-Day International (ODI) career, on the other hand, hasn’t exactly taken off thus far. Surya has scored 384 runs in 16 matches with only two half-centuries, but the team management may give him their full support if he wants to improve on his 50-over figures before the World Cup.