Gambhir stresses on picking 20 wickets amid Kuldeep uncertainty

Seasons change, venues change, formats change but the uncertainty over Kuldeep Yadav's spot in the India XI refuses to go away. The wrist spinner arrived in Colombo with a comparatively lighter workload than the other spinners in Galle: he bowled 14 overs in the first innings and 11 in the second. Manav Suthar sent down 21.4 and 23.4 while Jadeja bowled 21 and 23.

There are a few contributing factors to why Kuldeep's position is in question once more. Before the start of the series, Morne Morkel had flagged the Kookaburra ball – guilty of going soft after 20-25 overs – as one of the challenges for his players. Kuldeep perhaps suffered the worst as a wrist spinner, struggling for control with it. Sri Lanka confirmed at least one more left-hander in their line-up – Kamil Mishara, which could force India into a rethink. If Colombo offers a similar surface to Galle or even a flatter one, bringing in a finger spinner in search of more control has merits to it.

"We will try and pick the best bowling attack which will get us 20 wickets," Gautam Gambhir said when asked about the rarity of having a spin attack with all three left-arm spinners in Galle. "You can score 1000 runs in Test cricket, but there are no guarantee you are going to win a Test match. But if you get 20 wickets, you have all the probability and possibility of winning the Test match. We will try and take the best attack that can get you 20 wickets, whether you have got three left-arm spinners in it or an offie or three seamers – we will have all our options open."

Kuldeep didn't train in Colombo. He asked for rest from the full-fledged session on match day minus two and wasn't around on the eve of the game either when India had an optional hit. Saransh Jain however, was there at both. Two days out, he bowled in the spinners net for long, and troubled Rishabh Pant from round the stumps. On the eve of the Test, he was one of the five who turned up and got some batting time.

Gambhir didn't show all his cards but also refuted the idea of Kuldeep being underbowled in Galle. "Ultimately, we know how good a bowler Kuldeep is. And more importantly, sometimes, it's up to the captain as well, where he feels that if his two other spinners can get him wickets, looking at the conditions, what pace he wants a certain spinner to bowl. And it's not about guys underbowling. It's about getting the result.

"When you play five proper bowlers, someone will eventually get under-bowled. It's not about someone not delivering and getting underbowled. It's about who the captain feels or the management feel can be the most threatening in that particular condition."

But in conversations between the head coach and the wrist spinner, control has invariably come up. "I think the conversation I have had with Kuldeep is just bowl your good spell rather than looking desperate to take wickets. Because sometimes, as a wrist spinner, when you are looking and you are desperate to take wickets, I think your control can go away as well.

"For a very long period of time, we rate Kuldeep very highly and we know how successful and how threatening he can be in every condition given to him. But again, I think the same thing, as I said, that we're going to try and pick the best type of attack that can deliver in these conditions."