Sri Lanka vs India 2017: 5 players who are missing from India's previous ODI series in Sri Lanka

#1. Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir's international career is all but over

Gambhir had a terrific series against Sri Lanka in 2012 where he was the second-highest run scorer with 258 runs at an average of 51.60, smashing a century in the 3rd ODI and two fifties in the 2nd and 5th ODIs respectively.

Gambhir was a regular in the Indian team for another 5 and a half months before being dropped because the selectors opted for Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma to open the Indian batting. Based on good performances in the IPL and domestic cricket, Gauti was recalled to the Test team for their Tour of England but he fumbled miserably there as he scored 4, 18, 0, and 3 in the four innings that he played.

Gambhir kept on performing well at the IPL and domestic level and came back to the Test team in 2016 for the final Test of the New Zealand series after KL Rahul was ruled out due to an injury. Gambhir scored 29 in the first innings before scoring a brisk 50 from 56 deliveries in the second innings as India won the match and the series 3-0.

He was included in the squad to face England in the first two Tests of a 5-match series. However, his performance in the first Test at Rajkot was underwhelming as he scored 29 in the first innings followed by a duck in the second innings. As a result, he did not play the second Test and was dropped from the team for the next three Tests.

Since then, Gambhir performed brilliantly in the IPL as he was the second-highest run-scorer. However, he has been overlooked for the Test team for the Tour of Sri Lanka. With both Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul performing sensationally against Sri Lanka with Murali Vijay also a tough contender for the opening spot, we have probably seen the last of one of India’s finest openers.