Devdutt Padikkal strengthened his case for a place in India’s playing XI for the first Test against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 142 on the second day of the warm-up match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Colombo.While Padikkal made the most of improved batting conditions, Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel missed their chances to spend time at the crease. At stumps, India were 357 for six in 90 overs, six runs behind Sri Lanka XI’s first-innings total.Padikkal’s 142 came off 121 balls and included 18 boundaries. His century also strengthened his case to replace Sai Sudharsan at number 3, who has been ruled out of the Test series after failing to recover from a big-toe injury.India began the day with Yashasvi Jaiswal falling for a duck off the second ball. He attempted to flash at left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando, who finished with 1/42.KL Rahul and Padikkal then added 96 for the second wicket. Rahul scored 40 while Padikkal settled in before taking on the bowling. He used his cover drive and cuts against the pace bowlers, while anything short was pulled. He also brought out his trademark ‘Nataraja Shot’ against the pacers.Padikkal reached his century in 121 balls with a pull off off-spinner Ramesh Mendis before retiring. He had added 72 runs for the third wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 63 before retiring out.Jadeja also put together a 76-run stand with Manav Suthar, who scored 41. Suthar was playing on his first overseas international assignment.Pant had a short stay, scoring two before being dismissed by Mendis. He tried to hit the off-spinner against the turn over long-on, but the resulting leading edge was caught at long-off.Jurel scored one and was also dismissed by Mendis. He attempted a forward defensive shot, but the inside edge went towards short square leg, where the fielder completed the catch at the second attempt.Padikkal returned late in the innings and added four more boundaries while batting alongside Saransh Jain, who retired out on 22.For India, Padikkal’s 142 and Jadeja’s 63 were the main contributions on a day when most other batters around them fell cheaply.
