Sai Sudarshan came out ahead in the race after scoring a century, Padikal again lagged behind, both had a chance to claim against Sri Lanka A.

New Delhi. Sometimes a single innings makes your career, and sometimes it takes you away from the race for selection. Devdutt Padikkal knows very well that by missing the chance against Sri Lanka, he did not do anything special for his side. The first unofficial Test played between India ‘A’ and Sri Lanka ‘A’ was not just a red-ball match but a big audition for a place in the Indian Test team. At present, this match was the closest to a selection trial. The senior team is busy preparing for the Sri Lanka Test series and many players of the Test squad are playing for India ‘A’, so this was a match in which you had to prove yourself but for a player like Padikkal, the stake was even bigger.

Just two weeks ago, India had to choose between Padikkal and Sai Sudarshan for the No. 3 position in the one-off Test against Afghanistan. Despite being in better form in the summer, the team management expressed confidence in Sudarshan. Gautam Gambhir made it clear that Sudarshan should get a longer chance after a bad start. Sudarshan proved this belief right by scoring a restrained 81 runs. Even though he missed the century, this innings gave him more opportunities at number-3, a position which has been challenging for India since Cheteshwar Pujara was out. Now his century against Sri Lanka has strengthened his place.

Sai Sudarshan’s place seems to be confirmed

Compared to Padikkal, Sai Sudarshan was already ahead in the queue for selection. Even if Padikkal had scored a century or a big score, Sudarshan would still have been ahead of him, but this century has pushed Padikkal further back. Sai Sudarshan played as an opener in this match, while Padikkal got the role of number 3, yet he failed. On the other hand, Sudarshan scored a brilliant century in the same match in Galle. Now when India will go for the two-match Test series (WTC cycle) against Sri Lanka, Sudarshan has almost confirmed his place. Now he will also have the confidence that the team management has invested in him. Sai completed his century in 113 balls and also strengthened his claim.

Padikkal is lagging behind.

Padikkal started aggressively in Galle, hitting a four on the very first ball and a brilliant six in the next over, but as soon as it seemed that he was getting set, he abandoned his innings and returned after scoring 12 runs in just 7 balls. The pain of this dismissal is all the more because the performance Padikkal has performed in the last eight months has been excellent. There were very few Indian batsmen who performed better than him in this period. He was Karnataka’s most reliable batsman in the Ranji Trophy, where he scored 543 runs at an average of 54.30, including a double century in the semi-finals, but his performance was exceptional in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he scored 725 runs at an average of 90.63 in just nine innings. While playing for RCB, Padikkal made tremendous changes in his game and was among the most improved players this year. He scored 464 runs, that too at a strike rate of around 170. Such consistency usually brings opportunities but Indian cricket does not always take decisions on the basis of form alone, sometimes it gives preference to the player on whom the management has more confidence and currently Sudarshan is in the same situation.