India's hopes of a series win against Sri Lanka have been bowled a googly with the news in-form opener Gautam Gambhir would rather be at his sister’s wedding rather than topple the tourists.   

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Co trounced Sri Lanka by an innings and 144 runs in the second Test last week and head into the final test in Mumbai as hot favourites to wrap up a series win.

But Gambhir has shown where his loyalties lie and has decided to put family first instead of smash the Sri Lankan attack to all parts of the ground.

The absence of such a key man will be annoying at any time. But Gambhir proving that blood runs thicker than water will most likely irk Dhoni now especially.

The left-hander is in the form of his life and was one of the main factors behind India’s dominance over Sri Lanka in Kanpur last week.

He’s hit four centuries in a row in his last four Tests, including knocks of 114 and 167 in the current series.

It was his vital 233-run opening partnership with Virender Sehwag in the second Test which laid the platform for last week’s massive victory.

In his last 25 innings, Gambhir has hammered seven centuries and seven half-centuries for a stunning average of 77. Overall, he has scored 2,553 runs from 27 Tests since making his debut in 2004.

So while his absence isn’t injury-induced, some may well deduce Dhoni wouldn’t mind breaking Gambhir’s legs with a cricket bat - such is the opener’s importance to the team and his decision to turn his back on the side at such a crucial time.

If that is the case Dhoni was keeping it under wraps.

“It’s difficult to say how much the team will miss Gambhir,” Dhoni said.

“There are times when you have to adjust to situations.

These are things we cannot do much about.

“We are a side that depend a lot on good starts and whoever opens with Sehwag should be able to do that.”

The Indians have a reserve opener in their squad in Murali Vijay, who has played only one Test, against Australia last year.

But India could promote current No.3 Rahul Dravid to the opener’s slot and include an extra bowler in place of Gambhir, considering the Mumbai track is likely to be bowler-friendly.

Dravid, Test cricket’s fourth-highest run-scorer, has opened the innings on 18 occasions and notched up an average of 32.60. However, at his favourite No.3, Dravid averages 55.23.

With Sehwag in fine nick at one end, the onus will be on the new opener to adjust to his hard-hitting ways, something that his Delhi team-mate Gambhir is used to.

“We enjoy batting in each other’s company,” Sehwag, who made 131 in the second Test, said.

“For instance, when (Muttiah) Muralitharan came on to bowl on the first day here, Gautam tried to play a risky shot and I just told him to be careful. I told him to think big as it was a great wicket to bat on.

“The very next ball, he hit a beautiful cover drive.

That is the kind of rapport we share.”