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Devdutt Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan
NEW DELHI: Exactly a week before the start of the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test vs Australia in Perth, India are rocked by injury and availability concerns. Shubman Gill is unlikely to play the series opener due to a fractured thumb and captain Rohit Sharma has decided to stay back with his family and new-born for a few more days. KL Rahul was hit by a ball on the first day of match simulation, too, but the management is not too worried about him.
With both Gill and Rohit now missing, the Indian think-tank has gone into a huddle mode and are contemplating between
Devdutt Padikkal
and
Sai Sudharsan
. Both players travelled with the India A squad for the two fixtures vs Australia A last month and have been part of the ongoing match-simulations in Perth.
Rest of the India A players are scheduled to fly out of Perth around midnight on November 17 but there is a strong possibility of one of the two elegant southpaws staying back.
“The final call will be with the coach, captain and selectors but there is a strong possibility of management asking one specialist top-order batter to stay back for the series opener. Abhimanyu Easwaran is already there but one of Sai or Devdutt could well stay back too,” said a source tracking developments.
Padikkal has enough experience at top of the order and has impressed men’s senior selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar, who fast tracked him for the England Tests. The youngster played just one innings during that series and scored a solid 65. Even in the series vs Australia A, the Karnataka batter got good starts and scored 88 in the first fixture in Mackay.
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Sai Sudharsan was India A’s No.3 in those games and scored a hundred in the second outing. The Tamil Nadu batter scored a double hundred in the Ranji Trophy before the India A games, and also scored a hundred in Duleep Trophy and for Surrey in the English County circuit.
There is still some time before the first Test begins but the management is likely to take the call on India A players in the next few hours as they are originally scheduled to leave the country on November 17, when the match simulation drills end.
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