Choice of pacers

With Hardik Pandya being as good a frontline pacer as one can get and Jasprit Bumrah along with Arshdeep Singh being automatic choices in the line-up, there are three options for the reserve seamer’s slot.

Harshit Rana looks the favourite as both Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj are being considered red-ball specialists.

With hoem series against the West Indies starting October 2, it is understood that Bumrah might not be required against the relatively weak visitors side as Prasidh and Siraj will be fresh and raring to go.

Choice of spinners

Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav are first three choices and Gambhir’s affinity for all-rounders is likely to ensure Washington Sundar in the side.

The pitches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi won’t be as worn out and slow as they were during the Champions Trophy but there is reasonable help for spin bowlers.

Finishers and Keeper-batter

Nitish Kumar Reddy and Rishabh Pant are yet to recover from their respective injuries.

As a result, Shivam Dube will be the second seam bowling all-rounder after Pandya.

The second keeper’s slot is a fight between Jitesh Sharma and Dhruv Jurel.

Jitesh played some good knocks as a finisher for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL-winning campaign and is more suited for a lower-order role.