Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai
Sai Sudharsan has been ruled out of the upcoming two-Test series in Sri Lanka, starting in Galle on August 15. A media release in this regard will be put out soon, RevSportz understands. India, though, have a ready-made No. 3 in his absence, and the onus will be on Devdutt Padikkal to do the job. The Karnataka batsman scored 103 in the ongoing tour game against Sri Lanka Cricket XI on Saturday before retiring out.
On July 28, when the BCCI announced the squad for the Tests against Sri Lanka, Sai and Jasprit Bumrah were included with an asterisk. The press release stated: “Sai Sudharsan and Jasprit Bumrah’s availability will be subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI COE.”
Bumrah was subsequently ruled out of the series after the cricket board stated in a press release on August 3 that “he has not yet fully recovered from the left knee injury sustained during the ODI series against England”. Sai still featured in the squad and, although it was reiterated that his availability would be “subject to fitness clearance”, the nature of his injury wasn’t mentioned.
However, it is learnt that the southpaw from Tamil Nadu was recovering from a toe injury and was expected to be fit by today. But the injury hasn’t healed as expected, and he will need a little more time.
Sai toured Sri Lanka with the India A team for two unofficial Tests in June-July and scored centuries in both matches. It is believed that he picked up the injury during one of those games.
The question now is who will replace Sai in the squad? A few names have been doing the rounds, including Ruturaj Gaikwad’s. The selectors will take a call, and it will be interesting to see who replaces Sai.
Follow Revsportz for latest sports news
The post Sai Sudharsan ruled out of Sri Lanka Test series, Devdutt Padikkal set for No. 3 role appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.
