India after whitewashing Sri Lanka in the T20I series by 3-0 margin will be playing 2 match Test series against them in Mohali and Bengaluru, respectively. Rohit Sharma will be leading India for the first time in Test Cricket. India will start as favourites to win the Test series as well against Sri Lanka and also in the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, India need to look at who can be the potential replacement for these two players in the number 3 and number 5 position, respectively.

For Sri Lanka a lot will depend on how their skipper Dimuth Karunaratne performs with the bat. Ravindra Jadeja is back into the Indian Test squad after long time while the pace bowling department lead by vice-captain Bumrah is expected to have terrific impact in the series.

Numbers and Stats before start of Ind vs SL 1st Test match:
0 – Sri Lanka has never won a Test match against India on Indian soil.

India vs Sri Lanka on Indian soil in Tests:
Played – 20
India – 11
Sri Lanka – 0
Drawn – 9

5 – Ravichandran Ashwin needs 5 more wickets to surpass Kapil Dev and become 2nd highest wicket-taker for India in Test Cricket.

6 – Virat Kohli needs 38 more runs to become 6th Indian player to smash 8000 runs in Test Cricket.

12 – India haven’t lost a Test match at Mohali venue since 1995. Last time India lost a Test match in Mohali was way back in 1994 against West Indies. 
Most Consecutive Test matches played by India at a venue without losing a game:
13 at Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium)
12 at Mohali
12 at Delhi
11 at Kanpur
10 at Chennai

21 – If India wins 1st Test match against Sri Lanka then India will surpass Pakistan and have the record of winning most Test matches against Sri Lanka (21).

Most Test wins against Sri Lanka:
India / Pakistan – 20
Australia – 19
England – 17

35 – Rohit Sharma will become 35th player to captain the Indian Test team.

71 – Virat Kohli will become 71st player to play 100th Test match. Coincidentally, Virat Kohli’s wait for 71st international century has been too long and would be interesting to see whether Virat Kohli could achieve that feat in his 100th Test match.