The Sri Lanka tour started off on a positive note for the Indian camp as the visitors wrapped up the contest by six wickets on Sunday evening. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant made light work of the 207-run target as India registered a comprehensive win in the final session on Day 3. The contest, which was originally supposed to run for four days, was trimmed to three at the last minute; however, the team management got answers to several questions, and the likely XI is clear heading into the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, beginning August 15.
There were injury concerns surrounding the Indian camp on the eve of the warm-up Test. For starters, no one knew whether Sai Sudharsan would recover in time from his niggle, and as the game went on, he was subsequently ruled out of the entire series. On the other hand, skipper Shubman also suffered a hand injury, which kept him from participating in the practice game for the first two days.
However, as the game went on, many of India’s fears were put to rest, and most things fell into order. There were several takeaways from the contest. While most of the boxes have been ticked, there are still one or two concerns.
Devdutt Padikkal cements place
The biggest positive from the match was Devdutt’s performance at No.3. The elegant left-hander from Karnataka slammed an unbeaten 142 to cement his place and make himself indispensable in the playing XI for the first Test. While Sudharsan’s injury is a major relief for him, had the latter been fit, it would still have been difficult to keep Padikkal out, given his most recent performance.
Padikkal looked at ease against both pacers and spinners and displayed sharp footwork. Moreover, he didn’t even go into his shell, displaying attacking instincts to throw bowlers off their line and length.
Gill puts concerns to rest
When Gill was hit on his right hand during a training session, there were fears that he would be unable to recover in time for the 1st Test. Not taking the field on the first two days of the practice game made the concern all the stronger. However, India’s No.4 first had a lengthy net session on Sunday, and he followed it up by coming out to open when India were set a target of 207.
Gill looked solid in the middle and scored 44 runs before walking back to the hut. His stay in the middle made it clear that he would start in the first Test and would walk out as the captain.
Gurnoor outperforms Prasidh
In Sri Lankan conditions, it’s not a secret that the Indian camp would go in with just two pacers. Mohammed Siraj is the obvious pick, but there’s a fight between Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar for the second spot. The practice game saw Gurnoor outperforming Prasidh, as the former nailed the short-ball tactic to a T and rattled the Sri Lanka Cricket XI.
Moreover, Gurnoor also displayed attacking instincts with the bat in hand, where he smashed four sixes in the first innings, hitting a quickfire 36 off 18 balls. Looking at the fascination of head coach Gautam Gambhir with having a long batting lineup, one won’t be surprised if Gurnoor starts ahead of Prasidh.
Pant a concern
In both innings, Rishabh Pant suffered a rush of blood and gave away his wicket to the opposition on a nothing delivery. On both occasions, he charged down the track looking for a maximum only to find the fielder in the deep. Pant, who is inarguably one of the best Test batters in India, needs to rediscover his mojo, as the current management has shown it is not shy about making the hard calls.
Dhruv Jurel might have failed in the warm-up fixture, but he is sitting on Pant’s heels. The warm-up fixture also saw both Pant and Jurel donning the gloves at some stage or another.
