After the humiliating loss to Sri Lanka following a cakewalk over New Zealand in the tri-series opener, Team India are back to the drawing board. The think-tank is contemplating a few changes for Monday’s final and may spring a surprise by asking Rahul Dravid to open the innings along with Sachin Tendulkar.

With the make-shift opener Dinesh Karthik failing in both games, a move to promote the regular No. 3 will reflect the lack of options at skipper MS Dhoni’s disposal. The final against Sri Lanka will also be the last ODI for Team India before heading out to the Champions Trophy later this month and they will be hoping to go to South Africa on a positive note. Dhoni admitted they were not prepared for the crisis up the order after Gautam Gambhir joined regular opener Virender Sehwag in the sick bay just before the start of the tournament.

“If you see the last one year, we had Gambhir-Sachin-Sehwag playing consistently at the top of the order. We never had a problem, this is the first time when two of our three regular openers aren’t there. It’s really hard to get openers. The fact is that we don’t have any opener who can come as a replacement in such a short period,” Dhoni had said after Friday’s defeat. Dhoni went on say that Gambhir’s replacement Virat Kohli wasn’t a specialist opener and he doesn’t want to risk the Delhi batsman’s career by asking him to bat at an unfamiliar position.

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