Former India player Deep Dasgupta shared that Devdutt Padikkal would walk into the playing XI in the No.3 spot after his stunning hundred in the three-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in Colombo. Team India have a vacancy in the batting order after Sai Sudharsan has reportedly been ruled out of the upcoming two-match away Test series due to a toe injury as well.

“According to me, the biggest positive, was that when we got the news that Sai Sudharsan is not available, the player who can and will play in his place, has a century to his name. So that is a huge positive, and because of that, Devdutt Padikkal will step out with confidence now. It is now certain that he will play,” Deep Dasgupta said on his YouTube channel.

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He also added that the Indian team ticked nearly all of their boxes in the warm-up game, especially when it came to adapting to the new conditions and getting some game time ahead of the two-match Test series. Team India batted and bowled for 90 overs each across the first two days as well, which will certainly help them.

“It was good to see that India put in 90 overs in the field, because apart from batting and bowling, it is also important to get used to being on the ground all day, especially when you are playing red-ball cricket after such a long time. From that perspective, in my opinion, there are a lot of positives there,” Deep Dasgupta added.

“Almost everyone got their turn with the bat and ball, they have got game time in a match situation. Also, the team that the Sri Lanka Cricket have put out, it is a good side. Sometimes there is the fear of what kind of a team you will get to play against in a warm-up match, like a team against whom playing will not bring any benefit. But that is not the case here. It was a good bowling unit, because many of those players have played for Sri Lanka before. Overall, it was a good outing, India got what they wanted,” Deep Dasgupta concluded.