Indian captain Virat Kohli has confirmed fit-again opening batsman KL Rahul will return for the second Test against Sri Lanka, with Abhinav Mukund set to lose his spot.
A viral fever ruled Rahul out of the first Test in Galle, where India won by 304 runs.
The 25-year-old has recovered and has been batting in the nets.
"KL has been our established opener. I feel one of the openers (from the first Test) has to make way," Kohli told reporters in Colombo ahead of Thursday's start to the second Test.
"What he has done for us in the past two years has been very solid and he deserves to come back in and start fresh in Test cricket again.
"We have a team meeting later on after practice, so we will be able to clarify that then but yes KL, according to me, will definitely come back."
India were without their first-choice openers in Galle, with Murali Vijay also unavailable due to injury.
Shikhar Dhawan, named in the squad as a replacement for Vijay, and Mukund opened for the tourists, who eased to a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.
While Dhawan put India in the driver's seat on the opening day with a sparkling 190 off just 168 deliveries, it was Mukund's turn to shine in the second innings with 81.
"In a situation like this, you need to sit down and think which player has had more impact on the game and who's been able to make that difference in the game straight away," Kohli said, hinting Dhawan would get the nod.
"It all depends on who's had a better game. Honestly, it's a very thin line, it's a very small margin but, unfortunately, that's how this sport goes sometimes."
Rahul had been due to return to the Indian starting line-up after recovering from a shoulder injury suffered during the home Test series against Australia.
The right-handed batsman has scored four hundreds and seven 50s in 17 Tests with a top score of 199.
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