Devdutt Padikkal hit 167, 44 and 117 in three innings in ongoing Sri Lanka Test series.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra has stated that Sai Sudharsan won't be included in the starting lineup as soon as he recovers from injury following Devdutt Padikkal's century in the second Test against Sri Lanka.
He emphasized that Padikkal, who is currently playing in his fourth Test, had already amassed more runs than Sudharsan had in seven Tests.
On Day 1 (Sunday, August 23) at Colombo, India reached 300/5 thanks to Padikkal's 117 runs off 193 balls. Shubman Gill made 50, while Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja had made scores in the 40s at stumps.
According to Aakash Chopra, Sudharsan will have to wait on the sidelines whenever the latter is back in the mix because of Padikkal's hundreds in consecutive Test matches.
"Devdutt Padikkal has come as a devdoot. He is Devmanus. How well he is batting! So, I love him to bits. DDP is an outstanding cricketer. DDP is an absolutely gun player. He has played four matches in total, and he has already run ahead of what Sai Sudharsan had scored in seven matches while playing 12 innings.
He has already scored two back-to-back centuries. He got out to an off-spinner here for sure, but he was in great touch. It's now confirmed that Sai will have to sit out once he comes. There won't be a place for Sai straightaway," Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Padikkal now has 418 runs at an average of 69.67 in six Test innings, with two centuries and one fifty. On the other hand, Sai Sudharsan has aggregated 383 runs at an average of 31.91 in 12 Test innings, with three fifties.
Chopra further highlighted that Padikkal has proved that he can be equally good in Tests and T20s. Chopra also added that the Karnataka batter showed that he can adjust his game for Tests.
"Devdutt Padikkal has shown that a modern-day batter can be ready for days of cricket and play T20 as a rockstar. He is that kind of a guy. He is brilliant. What he did for RCB and the way he batted: he stitched many partnerships with Kohli, where he was outplaying and outsmashing Virat Kohli.
If Kohli was going at a strike rate of 125, he was running at 200. He was making everybody's job so much easier. When he comes to play Tests, he plays like a Test. He got lives this time, slightly difficult chances, but they were dropped, and he went on to score a century, and his 117 runs were most important in India's score of 300/5," he said.
Padikkal had replaced Sudharsan in the India squad for the Sri Lanka Test series as the Tamil Nadu batter couldn’t recover in time from his toe injury.