Five crucial pieces in Sri Lanka's T20 puzzle

Sri Lanka rose to No.1 in the T20I rankings when Graham Ford was coach and won the World T20 after Ford's first tenure ended. He has begun his second stint in charge of a far less settled T20 unit, with another global tournament in the coming weeks. These are just five of the many questions Sri Lanka may seek answers to during this three-match joust with India.

Two months ago, this question was easily answered. But with Kusal Perera hamstrung by a doping charge, and almost certain to be unavailable for the World T20, Sri Lanka must reopen a debate they thought Kusal had ended.

The present frontrunner is Danushka Gunathilaka, who dazzled in one ODI innings in New Zealand; his strokes as potent as they were pretty. But one half-century in seven international innings will not secure him the place. He will have to deal with a challenge now from wicketkeeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella, who has been in crunching domestic form, hitting 189 runs at a strike rate of 173 in the recent Super T20 Provincial Tournament.

Senanayake's returns in New Zealand and Australia suggested he was a diminished bowler with the remedied action, but he has since expressed confidence he will get better over time. He wasn't in Sri Lanka's T20 XI on the recent tour of New Zealand, as the selectors chose to test Jeffrey Vandersay. Perhaps a return to turning, Asian conditions can reinvigorate Senanayake's career.

Sri Lanka need him in form. He had been instrumental to their World T20 success in Bangladesh in 2014, and that experience is valuable. However, the present selection panel has proved itself virtually impervious to sentiment. Ajantha Mendis finds himself out of the squad, despite many great T20 feats in past years. Senanayake will know he could follow if the good performances don't begin stacking up.

Since the start of 2015, Thisara Perera has averaged 11 with the bat in ODIs, and 58.21 with the ball. For the moment, he is living on potential and reputation. He had been important to Sri Lanka in past limited-overs campaigns, and hit the winning runs in the 2014 final, but his recent run of form is beginning to blot those memories out. What has worried the team management, especially, has been a relaxed work ethic in comparison to team-mates - though there were signs of improvement on that front during the recent New Zealand tour.

Coaches will hope that knack of playing match-winning hands can return to him, but for now, Perera will want to prove he is worth his place, in one discipline at least.

Sri Lanka's two greatest match-winners over the past five years are modest fielders. Lasith Malinga dives at balls in slow motion. And it sometimes feels like Rangana Herath could lose a foot race to a fungal infestation. Malinga will, no doubt, return to the team, but Herath's T20 future is a little less certain. He has repeatedly proved his quality as an all-format bowler. But is his fielding too much of a liability in the shortest format? If Sri Lanka field well in this series and prove they can cover for the less mobile players, Herath's chances of playing in the World T20 will increase.

With Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara and Angelo Mathews all ruled out of this series, Sri Lanka will field a second-string seam attack. The quicks are a varied bunch. There is Dilhara Fernando, making a surprise return at 36. Shaminda Eranga had a late call-up to replace the injured Binura Fernando. And Dushmantha Chameera is the young tearaway trying to prove his worth in limited-overs cricket, after some heartening Test results. Each man now has his chance to bowl himself into that World T20 squad.