Amid uncertainty over Sai Sudharsan’s availability, Devdutt Padikkal made a compelling case for the one-drop position with an unbeaten 142 as India ended the second day of the three-day warm-up match on a commanding note at 357/6, just six runs behind Sri Lanka Cricket XI’s total.
India’s injury woes could potentially exacerbate with Sudharsan’s availability for the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka now in serious jeopardy. The 24-year-old left-hander has been nursing a toe injury and was a notable absentee when the Indian squad travelled to Sri Lanka earlier this week. Sudharsan has also missed the ongoing warm-up game in Colombo, where fellow southpaw Devdutt Padikkal scored a century.
His absence would magnify India’s growing list of injury concerns ahead of the first Test. Jasprit Bumrah is already unavailable, while Washington Sundar is also dealing with an injury, although he has not yet been officially ruled out of the second Test. Captain Shubman Gill, meanwhile, sat out the warm-up fixture after sustaining an impact injury while batting in the nets on the eve of the game.
After India slumped to a 27-run loss against England in the third ODI at Lord’s recently, handing the hosts a 2-1 series win, the Indian skipper expressed his displeasure at the frequency of injuries as the team management had to repeatedly alter their combinations.
“If you look at the squad, the first squad that we announced, out of that, at least five players did not play this match. So one player gets injured, you try to play a different combination. There are two players, a different combination. But I think after every match, if a player is missing, somewhere we are missing a few tricks,” he added.
“If we keep the World Cup in mind, we have to play 11 matches in a row. And here the players are not even able to finish 2-3 series of matches. So somewhere it is missing that our players are not able to play matches continuously,” Gill said.
Brief Scores: SLC XI 363/8 dec. lead India 357/6 Devdutt Padikkal 142*, Ravindra Jadeja 63, Manav Suthar 41; Asanka Manoj 2-32, Ramesh Mendis 2-77) by 6 runs
