Now Reading: Devdutt Padikkal scores 121-ball century in tour match against Sri Lanka XI
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Devdutt Padikkal scores 121-ball century in tour match against Sri Lanka XI
Devdutt Padikkal scores 121-ball century in tour match against Sri Lanka XI
Devdutt Padikkal struck a composed century off 121 balls for India on day two of the warm-up match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Colombo. He hit 14 fours and retired immediately…
The Story in Brief
Devdutt Padikkal struck a composed century off 121 balls for India on day two of the warm-up match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Colombo. He hit 14 fours and retired immediately after reaching three figures, having survived a caught-and-bowled chance on 99 off Ramesh Mendis. India closed at 176 for 4, with KL Rahul making 29 and Ravindra Jadeja unbeaten on five. Rishabh Pant fell cheaply for two, caught trying to attack, and Dhruv Jurel made one before being caught at short leg off Mendis.
Padikkal's knock follows scores of 94, 12 and 67 for India A in the preceding series. With B. Sai Sudharsan racing to regain fitness, Sportstar reports that Padikkal could replace the fellow left-hander in the Test XI if Sudharsan is ruled out of the first Test starting August 15.
The Indian Opinion
The Padikkal century is being hailed as timely, but a warm-up knock on a flat Colombo pitch tells us little about his readiness for Test turners. What matters is whether he can handle the ball that skids on, as Mendis nearly proved. The chatter about a vacancy in the XI ignores that India's top order is settled. The real test will be Padikkal's footwork against the short ball in pressure moments, that skill remains unexamined here. Can he convert starts when it counts, not just when the opposition is a second-string attack?
Sources (3): sportstar.thehindu.com, sportstar.thehindu.com (2), indiatvnews.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources.
