What exactly have India gained after Sri Lanka series?

Over the past month, the weather in India has been very jittery, it has been fleeting, it has been fickle and by all means, it has been damp. The sun beats down one moment, the clouds take over as you blink, rain starts belting down, and you blink again, whoosh...it all disappears, as if nothing happened. And yet, as you step out, there are potholes on the road, and the ride assumes a bumpy route and splash, you remember something happened, you remember it rained!

Away from this bizarre sequence of events, the Indian team were cruising along in Sri Lanka, where the weather generally tends to be on the damper side, but at least it is uniform, and yet this time people were surprised with the frequent spurts of extended sunshine to make matters a wee bit interesting. Perhaps the Indian team did not blink enough for the weather to change, perhaps they never needed to blink, their journey was so smooth that they encountered almost no potholes along the way... and as the team wrapped up the ODI series 5-0 after having schooled the hosts in Tests, perhaps the time is ripe to ask, what exactly did the Indian team gain?

In many ways this series can be an apt metaphor to the weather back home in India; there were dominant Indian performances over a sustained period of time, and as you blinked, Sri Lanka somehow managed to break the flow, and then as you blinked again, India were back in control... as if nothing happened. The only difference was that unlike the sharp bursts of rains in India which left potholes on the road, Sri Lanka were tepid even when in control and thus India's route was never scarred.

What exactly did India gain?

Virat Kohli loves the press, he is eloquent, never minces his words, is always upbeat and loves to put across whatever he is thinking.

"We are not going to be predictable or have a set pattern anymore in terms of what we are going to do in ODI or T20 cricket. Anyone could go anywhere. That’s what we are looking to do,” Kohli had said before the series, clearly setting the tone for the long run -- the 2019 World Cup.

As the ODI series meandered to a close, India had given all the players in the squad playing time; few looked promising, few looked out of their depth, but such was the fickleness of the opposition strength, that nothing positive could be filtered out.

Not everything was hunky dory for India, it has to be said. Sri Lanka did have their moments, and even if they did not do anything substantial with these moments, they made sure few players would be left floundering around for some sort of positivity.

Kohli loves KL Rahul, he bats for him at every press conference, believes in his ability and wants him to be the match winner. And Rahul has responded too, in Tests, that is; he has scored seven consecutive half centuries in Test matches and looks the part at the top of the order. Bigger and sterner challenges await him, but the promise is just too radiant.

Now, Rahul is a peculiar case; with a solid base and watertight technique, he added a plethora of strokes in his arsenal in the IPL and this catapulted him into India's limited overs ambitions too. He then scored a century on his ODI debut, looking at ease against the white ball.

Number 4 is still vacant!

He then went on to bludgeon a dazzling century in a T20I, but this effort was at number 4. India has been in love with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma at the top of the order and thus Kohli pushed Rahul to number 4 to make a spot for him in this ODI side. And he failed, did Rahul, scoring 28 runs across three innings, falling prey to Akila Dananjaya on all three occasions. That spot remains vacant, Rahul's confidence impeded!

What exactly did India gain?

Kedar Jadhav is your perfect team man; he will bowl for you, will pick up wickets, will bat wherever you ask him too, will look to give it his all on the field, takes the mouthful from Kohli for his perceived lack of fitness to heart and picks himself up to run after that ball again... yes, Jadhav was the perfect number 6 for India over the last eight months.

And yet he managed to score just one run in the three innings he played before the fifth match, but picked up three wickets; he was even dropped, he lapsed on the field once again, looked lost probably for the first time in the last one year. Is his spot under the scanner?

Jadhav was given another chance, this time at number 5 ahead of MS Dhoni. Kohli was waiting for him in the middle, he waddled out in his own laid back style and looked to watch the initial few balls before opening the bat and finding the fence at third man. Slowly, he crawled into the double digits, slowly that lost confidence trickled back in!

And soon the runs came flowing back in too; he prodded along for some time before climbing into the spinners, the deft touches, the delectable sweep shots, and the precise manoeuvering of the field dawned upon him. He was playing for his side, for his future, and in many ways the cobwebs of doubt which shrouded him were swatted aside.

Middle order conundrum became all the more tricky!

Positive yes, but after three tremors, this innings which was not exactly as fluent, forces us to ask,

'What exactly did India gain?'

Shardul Thakur, who drew more attention for donning the number 10 jersey than his promising debut, had a torrid second match to raise questions over his selection in this team.

Thakur has pace, his action is sedate and very strong, there is promise but in these two matches, he awoke to the brutal nature of International cricket. Heck, he even dropped a catch, a lapse in fielding you make, just look away, somewhere far away from captain Kohli...

An experiment was needed, an experiment was made, but results?

What exactly did India gain?

Ajinkya Rahane is a very strange case in Indian cricket. The vice captain of the Test side is just about managing to stay afloat against the white ball. He only gets attention when the regular players decide to back away. As was the case against the West Indies, Rahane got his spot because Rohit was rested, but the 29-year-old jumped all over the opportunity as if waiting for this chance like a carcass awaits a vulture.

He walked out and scored 336 runs in the series, won the Man of the Match award, ignited debates over his position in the side... only to be benched against Sri Lanka once Rohit returned.

An opportunity was lobbed up to him when Dhawan had to rush home to tend to his ailing mother. And he failed... he could only manage five runs off 17 balls. Lost again, floundering away, yet again!

What exactly did India gain?

Has this question become jarring to your ears, yes, it was meant to be, for when people get irritated with something, only then does a certain Rohit Sharma decide to stand up. An embodiment of talent and oozing ability, Rohit's gifts were never in doubt, but this very word coupled with his lackluster performances irritated people everywhere. Perhaps Dhoni was irritated too, he sent him to open the innings, and things decided to change for Rohit... except in Sri Lanka.

When he was dismissed for four in the first ODI, his average in Sri Lanka read 14, those vicious trolls were out again, tongues wagging and potshots fired.

And then Rohit decided to stand up, scores of 54, 124, and 104 followed; he anchored chases, he forged strong platforms and now his average read 25.

Dispelling the doom

Perhaps this is what India gained!

The Indian selectors want Manish Pandey to fit into their scheme of things. He shot into people's psyche when he won India that match in Sydney, but then he could not sustain that form. Extended dry spells followed, injury hit him and he dropped off the radar until he went to South Africa as the captain of the India A side.

Runs peeled off his bat (307 runs and he was dismissed only once), his side won the series, and the selectors were brimming with confidence, Pandey was back in the reckoning.

He strode out to bat in the 4th ODI after Kohli and Rohit had sucked all the momentum out of the Sri Lankan side and arrested a mini slide along with MS Dhoni with a confident half century, to shove his name amidst all the Jadhavs, Rahanes, and Rahuls for the middle order slot.

He followed it up with a gritty 36 runs in 53 balls, and looked set to take India deep in the chase, but then his attention snapped, and he threw away his wicket.

However, was his audition successful: he has not cemented his spot, he would agree, so even we are left wondering!

"The South Africa tour was nice, I think. I would like to stick to the same role as I had been doing there. I'll try to bat along with the same pace and hope that Sri Lanka ends well and that I make a mark on the team," Pandey said as he was about to depart for Sri Lanka.

Perhaps this is what India gained.

And just as we draw to a close, let us now talk about the finisher, Dhoni.

"If Dhoni is not delivering, we will have to look at alternatives," MSK Prasad had said just after he announced India's squad to take on Sri Lanka.

As he became only the 20th player to breach the 300 ODI mark, Dhoni managed to eke out scores of 45, 67, and 49 and was not dismissed. He was agile behind the stumps, reliable with the DRS, even changed his pads - he has shunted aside the Morrant pads for the regular ones, which in many ways is an indication that the veteran is willing to scrap till the finish and adjust, experiment and everything in between to perform and stay relevant.

He saw out two tricky chases, and guided Pandey to the finish when India batted first. He ran hard, he even dozed off on the field, Dhoni could have been pardoned had he frozen as there was so much talk about his future. The former skipper chose to wink at it, saunter out with the bat in hand, smile when the crowd got irritated with the home team, and then batted his team to victory.

New pads, tweaked technique and that grin

"By no means or by any stretch of the imagination is he finished or even half finished yet. If anyone thinks so, they are mistaken and they have another one coming. They are in for some surprises. The old dog has plenty to offer," team coach Ravi Shastri said before the 5th ODI match.

And then there was Virat Kohli, yes that very emotional young boy who sheepishly sprang to life under Dhoni who handed over a trophy to the Indian stalwart to mark his 300th ODI cap.

"What do I say? 90 percent of us started our career under you. It is an honour to give this memento to you. And you will always remain our captain," Kohli said, looking every bit the chubby old boy for whom Dhoni had taken a stand back in the day when he was struggling. The rest of the members clapped, Dhoni grinned, like he always does, accepted the insignia, cracked a joke, and moved on!

From Prasad's sharp and terse ultimatum to Kohli's admiration to Shastri's endorsement, MS Dhoni has lived it all again, all over again.

Perhaps this is what India gained!