Former Indian middle-order batter Ajinkya Rahane, who recently announced his retirement from all forms of the game, has reckoned that Devdutt Padikkal would continue to play at No.3 even after Sai Sudharsan comes back to the squad.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rahane insisted that with no senior player in the No.3 spot, it would be a bit easy for Padikkal to continue at the No.3 spot with Sudharsan waiting for his chance.
“If a senior player at number three or any number had gone out and Padikkal scored in his place, the senior player would come back into the team. But at this moment, Sai Sudharsan also does not have as much experience in Test cricket. So I feel India will think of Padikkal at number three. But you cannot take anything for granted, and Devdutt will have this in mind as well. Sudharsan is also a quality player. He will look to perform consistently,” Rahane said in a video on his Hindi YouTube channel.
For the unversed, Sudharsan is currently nursing an injury at the BCCI CoE in Bengaluru and has been ruled out of the two-match tour of Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Padikkal went on to score 211 runs across both innings of the game, emerging as the player of the match in the first Test.
“For now, yes. I feel he (Padikkal) will play at number three. You see a batter scoring runs, but should also see how he scores them. Padikkal’s footwork was decisive, and with the confidence that he displayed, he did not let the bowlers settle. Your number three need to dominate on such wickets. It is a good sign for the team. He did not allow pressure to come on any of the batters,” he added.
