Padikkal seals No. 3 spot with stylish hundred as Jaiswal, Pant fail

Devdutt Padikkal assured his spot in India’s playing eleven for the opening Test with a stylish century on the second day of the warm-up match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI, while seasoned Rishabh Pant and his understudy Dhruv Jurel failed to make the most of favourable batting conditions.

At the end of the second day, India finished its first innings at 357 for eight in 90 overs. Padikkal’s artistic unbeaten 142 and a gritty 63 (retired out) by veteran Ravindra Jadeja were the highlights, while Manav Suthar (41) also impressed with the bat on his maiden overseas international assignment.

The pitch had become much easier to bat on, and Padikkal took full advantage, hitting 18 delectable boundaries to show that he is ready to reclaim his rightful place now that first-choice No. 3 batter Sai Sudharsan has been ruled out of the series after failing to recover in time from his big-toe injury.

With Yashasvi Jaiswal (0) falling off the second delivery of the day while attempting to flash at left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando (1/42), KL Rahul (40) and Padikkal added 96 for the second wicket.

While Rahul played himself in, the sinewy Padikkal was a treat to watch, opening with a couple of cover drives off fuller deliveries before unleashing some delectable cuts both in front of and behind point. He was particularly severe on right arm pacer Ishitha Wijesundara who was hit for multiple boundaries. Anything short from pacers or spinners was pulled with a lot of disdain. The famous ‘Nataraja Shot’ also came out of the closet against the pacers.

The hallmark of Padikkal’s batting was the extra second he almost seems to have while deciding on his execution. His defence has also got tighter and the footwork against spinners has been exemplary. A pull shot off off-spinner Ramesh Mendis brought up his ton in just 121 balls before he was asked to retire.

By then, he had added 72 runs for the third wicket with Jadeja, who again showed why he is a valuable asset as a middle order batter overseas even as his spin bowling stocks has depleted quite considerably.

The biggest disappointment of the day was certainly Rishabh Pant (2) who once again played an indiscreet shot against off-spinner Mendis (2/77) trying to hit him against the turn over long-on. The leading edge flew to long-off.

If Pant perished going for the offensive, Dhruv Jurel’s (1) technical ineptness against off-spinner was exposed once again after the South Africa Test series. A forward defensive prod and the inside edge flew to short square leg fielder who caught it on second attempt.

But Manav Suthar, who is impressing everyone with his heart and commitment joined Jadeja as the duo added 76 to steady the ship.

Towards the end, Padikkal once again came out to bat and added four more boundaries to his quota of 14 in company of Saransh Jain (22 retired out).