India's star player set to miss practice game on Sri Lanka tour: Report

India’s top-order batter Sai Sudharsan is set to miss the three-day practice game in Colombo ahead of the two-Test series in Sri Lanka. Sudharsan was named in the Test squad subject to fitness clearance alongside Jasprit Bumrah. While Bumrah has been ruled out of the Test series, Sudharsan did not travel with the squad to Sri Lanka. As per a report by Cricbuzz, Sudharsan is set to fly to the island nation later this week.

The publication claims that the left-handed batter had told his close friends that he would leave for Sri Lanka on the weekend.

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The young southpaw had suffered an injury during India A’s two-unofficial Test series last month. India’s designated no.3 batter is nursing a toe injury at the Centre of Excellence (CoE), Bengaluru. He has resumed batting as well and is likely to regain fitness ahead of the Test series.

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How Sudharsan performed vs Sri Lanka A

Sudharsan found form on the Sri Lanka tour. Against Sri Lanka A he scored a century in the first innings of both games and returned not out in the second. He also returned to the dressing room retired hurt in the second innings of the first game.

He returned as the highest run-scorer on the tour. From four innings, he scored 332 runs, averaging 166.

Who will bat at no.3 in practice game vs Sri Lanka XI?

The like-for-like replacement in India's Test squad for Sudharsan is Devdutt Padikkal. In the one-off Test against Afghanistan, the team management stuck with Sudharsan and benched Padikkal. The Karnataka batter batted in three innings against Sri Lanka A and scored 173 runs. He was dismissed cheaply in the first innings of the first game and made a comeback with a 67-run knock. In the second game, he scored 94 runs from 152 deliveries. He batted at no.3 for India A while Sudharsan opened the innings.

India’s squad for Test series against Sri Lanka

Shubman Gill (c), KL Rahul (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sai Sudharsan*, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Auqib Nabi.