A serene century from Devdutt Padikkal led India‘s response, as they ended day two of their tour match against a Sri Lanka Cricket XI (SLCXI) trailing by just six runs with one wicket in hand – though three batters had been retired out. Padikkal, who had retired out upon reaching his century, returned late in the day to stay unbeaten on 142 off 164 deliveries, alongside him was Gurnoor Brar, who showed off his hitting chops with under-the-cover-of-dusk 36 off 18, inclusive of four sixes.

With the SLC XI declaring overnight on 363 for 8, India were afforded a full day’s play – minus the thirty minutes or so lost to a brief shower prior to lunch – to give their batting lineup a run out. Of those it was KL Rahul (40 off 67), Ravindra Jadeja (63 off 117) and Manav Suthar (41 off 90), alongside Paddikal, that made the most of their opportunities.

Of the seven frontline batters that went out to the middle, Yashasvi Jaiswal fell off just the second delivery of the day, slashing a drive straight to backward point, while there were also single-digit scores for both Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel. Pant charged the offspin of Ramesh Mendis off just his fifth delivery faced and sliced a lofted drive to mid-off, while Jurel was a touch more unfortunate seeing his back foot defence into the onside loop up off short leg’s shoulder for the fielder to react swiftly and grab it on the rebound.

But surrounding those wickets were moments of promise and general control, on a surface that was offering a fair bit of assistance to the spinners. This was most prevalent when the Rahul-Padikkal stand was going strong – the pair put on 96 at a rate of 4.17 before Rahul missed a swipe off one that ripped off the surface from offspinner Kesara Nuwantha and clattered into the stumps.

India’s ease with the bat continued as Jadeja’s industriousness perfectly complemented Padikkal’s control. A stand of 72 off 98 took India to 168, and Padikkal to his century – coming via a crunched pull in front of square – as the lanky left-hander retired out upon reaching his ton.

Padikkal’s exit galvanised the hosts briefly as both Pant and Jurel would fall in quick succession shortly afterwards, but after the tea break Jadeja and Sutra put together the third fifty-plus stand of the innings, one only brought to an end by Jadeja too retiring out. Kuldeep was the new batter out, and he played out 15 deliveries for a solitary run before he too retired out, before Suthar fell just one ball later – trapped lbw by one that might have just pitched outside leg.

This brought Padikkal back out to the middle, and he carried out as if he had never left. With Jain by his side, the pair put on a brisk 83 – the second-highest partnership in the innings – in an elongated final session. Jain played his part in the stand, striking three boundaries in a 45-ball 22 before retiring out.

Padikkal though carried on in a similar vein, before Gurnoor took matters into his own hands to close the day out in style with a trio of sixes off left-arm spinner Dilum Sudeera in the final over of the evening.