India will miss services of Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha in 3rd Test against Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC)

India will miss services of Murali Vijay, Wriddhiman Saha in 3rd Test against Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC)

As India prepare for the final day of the second Test at P Sara Oval, Colombo they suffered a dual blow when Murali Vijay and Wriddhiman Saha were ruled out of the third Test at Sinhalese Cricket Club (SSC) in Colombo. India had put in a clinical performance and Nikhil Popat feels India will miss the services of the duo.

The Indian openers continue to take turns to get injured; it was KL Rahul who missed the one-off Test against Bangladesh. Shikhar Dhawan scored century in his absence. Murali Vijay then was ruled out of the first Test against Sri Lanka due to a hamstring niggle and Dhawan backed up his ton. It was then the turn of Dhawan who was ruled out due to a sore thumb and KL Rahul scored a ton in the second Test at Galle. Now before the third Test, Vijay again has been ruled out of the Test tour. Read: India cannot afford to keep shuffling batsmen at the crucial No. 3 spot

Vijay has been India’s top performer in Tests in recent times and India did miss the services of Vijay in the Test at Galle. Vijay has the ability to bat for long time and that was evident in his brilliant knock of 82 runs at P Sara in the second innings. He saw off the threat of Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal. Vijay will hope to recover in time for the Tests against South Africa in India.

It does not come as a surprise that Vijay has been one of the top performers in whites opening the batting; he has the best average for any opener who has scored at least 1,500 runs since January 2012. The below table illustrates the same.

India missed him in the first Test and given his run of form, India will likely miss him going into the third and final Test of the series. The inclusion of Karun Nair bodes well for the youngster but he will have big boots to fill already. Read: Ajinkya Rahane: The quintessential team man

Vijay is not the only one India will miss though, and they will be hampered with the absence of Wriddhiman Saha. The Bengal cricketer waited long enough to get his chances and after failing in the first innings, Saha scored gritty runs with the tail to get India to a good total. It will be his wicketkeeping that India will miss the most. Naman Ojha might be a better, aggressive prospect with the bat but his ‘keeping will be tested.

Naman has had good scores to warrant a call up, he scored 430 runs in three innings for India A against Australia A in Australia. The runs came at a brisk pace and also included a double hundred. India’s last double hundred was also by their ‘keeper, MS Dhoni who hit magnificent 224 against Australia at Chennai. But Naman’s test won’t be his batting as much as his wicketkeeping to the likes of Amit Mishra and Ravichandran Ashwin. Particularly, Ashwin is bowling his best will a hard task for Naman on decks which are likely to assist spinners. Rahul will keep wickets for India on the final day of the second Test and it is likely that one would get a glimpse of what is to come with the absence of Saha in the Indian line-up. Read:  India in Sri Lanka 2015: Virat Kohli must back his decisions

(Nikhil Popat is diehard cricket enthusiast and a PotterHead till the end of time. He can be followed on Twitter @CricCrazyNIKS)