SL vs IND: Devdutt Padikkal leads India’s fightback with unbeaten ton on Day 2 of warm-up match

New Delhi: With ruled out of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, Devdutt Padikkal made a strong case for the No. 3 spot. He scored an unbeaten 142 runs as India ended the second day of the three-day warm-up match on 357/6, trailing by just 6 runs.

SLC XI declared overnight on 363/8, and the visitors got off to a poor start when Yashasvi Jaiswal was removed by Vishwa Fernando off the second ball of the innings. and Padikkal stitched a 96-run partnership for the second wicket, helping India recover. Rahul batted well for his 40, smashing five boundaries and a maximum, before Keshara Nuwantha removed him.

Padikkal then continued to anchor the innings and found an able partner in Jadeja, who came out at no.4 in the absence of regular skipper Shubman Gill, who didn’t take the field for the second consecutive day. The duo forged a 72-run stand, with the 26-year-old reaching to his century off 121 balls before retiring hurt on 103.

Middle-order collapse

After Padikkal went back, Sri Lanka made a brief comeback in the match with Ramesh Mendis dismissing Rishabh Pant for 2 and Dhruv Jurel for 1, leaving India at 174/4. Jadeja and Suthar steadied India’s innings with another fifty-run partnership. Jadeja retired hurt on 63 off 117 deliveries, while Suthar scored 41 off 90 before falling lbw to Asanka Manoj.

The Men in Blue continued to rotate batters thereafter, with spinner Kuldeep Yadav retiring hurt after scoring 1 off 15 and Saransh Jain also making way after amassing 22 off 45. Padikkal returned to the middle after his earlier retirement and moved into the 140s while remaining unbeaten.

The second day’s most thrilling and entertaining phase came in the final over, when pacer Gurnoor Brar smashed Dilum Sudeera for four maximums to finish on an unbeaten 36 runs off just 18 balls. The Men in Blue will head into the third and final with momentum on their side.