Sri Lanka vs India 2017: Five talking points from the Test series

#3 India's opening pair conundrum: A welcome problem for India

KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay - How will Kohli choose?

I like to push characters to extremes so that they have to make really tough decisions and there is no life more extreme than that of an athlete: Chris Cleave

Let us look at the batsmen Kohli has to choose from the next time India don the white jersey again:

Shikhar Dhawan: Man of the Series vs Sri Lanka, 358 runs in four innings, including two big hundreds.

KL Rahul: First Indian to score seven back-to-back half centuries in Test cricket, the ultimate comeback master

Murali Vijay: One of India's top three Test batsmen, an experienced campaigner who has proven himself in stern overseas conditions

This is a conundrum that will drill a hole in the Indian skipper's head, but it definitely makes for a headache he would love to have. He has multiple options to choose from, and there is no doubting each one's talent, consistency or temperament.

Vijay was ruled out of the Sri Lanka series due to a wrist injury, which in turn helped Dhawan make a comeback into the Test fold. The left-handed batsman grabbed the opportunity with both hands and played two thumping innings against the tired-and-tattered Sri Lankan bowlers.

Rahul also made his comeback to the side after a long-standing injury layoff and did not disappoint in the slightest. He went about his business at the top of the innings, took some excellent catches at backward short-leg and 'dabbed' his way to another successful comeback story.

Kohli will now have to pick two of the three players. The final decision, no matter what it is, will be unfair on the batsman who misses out. Another way out for Kohli is to accommodate all three of them and drop a middle-order player from the side. That, however, is unlikelier than the first option, considering the impeccable form Ajinkya Rahane and Hardik Pandya have been in.

The Indian skipper, however, will take this problem in a split-second over Sri Lanka's crisis, where they have the spots but not the right players to fill them with!