Rahane and Pujara played a huge part in India becoming No. 1 in Tests, says captain Rohit Sharma

Team India is entering a new phase in Test cricket with the commencement of the two-match home series versus Sri Lanka, which gets underway on March 04 in Mohali. While it will see the beginning of Rohit Sharma's Test captaincy era, the national side will also see a transition phase taking place after seniors such as Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha got dropped prior to the series opener.

Talking about Rahane and Pujara, the duo had an ordinary run for quite some time and paid the price eventually. While the former est vice-captain Rahane didn't score a hundred since his MCG ton in late 2020, Pujara's last triple-figure knock came in early 2019. Since then, the senior pros got a long rope but couldn't do anything significant to be dropped before the SL home series.

Speaking ahead of the first Test in Mohali, during the press conference, captain Rohit spoke on the duo's absence and said, "Never easy to fill in big shoes of Rahane and Pujara. You can't put it in words what they have done for the team."

Revealing that both Pujara and Rahane can still make a comeback into the Test line-up, Rohit added, "Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane played big part in India becoming No.1 in Tests. It's just for now, we didn't consider them."

At present, India is at the No. 2 spot in ICC Test Rankings, behind top-ranked Pat Cummins-led Australia. However, the Indian team enjoyed considerable success in whites, topping the ICC Test rankings in the recent past, and Rohit acknowledged Pujara-Rahane's contributions to the side's success.

India's Test squad for Sri Lanka series:Rohit Sharma (C), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas, Hanuma Vihari, Gill, Rishabh Pant, KS Bharat, Ashwin (subject to fitness), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep, Bumrah (VC), Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Sourabh Kumar