India vs Sri Lanka, 2017: 5 Indian players to watch out for

#1 Virat Kohli

The last time India played Test cricket against Sri Lanka, which is incidentally the last time India played Test cricket, the Indian skipper had scores of 3, 103*, 13 and 42 with a collective average of 53.66 in four innings.

For almost any other batsman in world cricket, these are impressive numbers. For a player of Kohli's caliber, they are below par. This is the kind of standard that he has elevated his game to, in the last few years, especially after taking over the captaincy from MS Dhoni in 2014.

Before Australia toured India for a Test series earlier this year, Kohli had four double centuries in four consecutive series. His impeccable form made every bowling attack kneel before its glory. After that came Steve Smith's inspired team and then followed the tour of Sri Lanka, and Kohli could manage just one century in the seven Tests that transpired.

Again, that's not a tremendously bad stat for an average batsman.

However, Kohli is far from average. He is one of the best in the world, and the 29-year-old will look to assert to that in the upcoming tussle against Dinesh Chandimal's men.

The matches will be played in Kolkata, Nagpur, and Delhi. Kohli has prodigious records in Kolkata and will look to make a positive start to his relationship with Nagpur in the second test. Both these games will give him the opportunity to score heavily against the struggling Sri Lankan bowling attack.

He will most probably be rested for the third game that is to be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, but the two opportunities that he will get are more than enough for the Indian skipper to make his mark on the series.