Gaikwad and Padikkal weren’t able to convert their starts in the second T20I.
With COVID-19 breaching India’s bio-bubble, the visitors had to hand debut caps to as many as four players. Apart from Gaikwad and Padikkal, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya earned their maiden T20I caps.
Opening the innings, Ruturaj scored 18-ball 21 while Padikkal, who batted at No. 3, perished for a quick-fire 23-ball 29 as India suffered a four-wicket defeat in the second T20I.
After the game, India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey backed Gaikwad and Padikkal to come good in the series decider.
“When you are going to make your debut for your country, it is always going to be nerves and we know that. The discussion is always to give them a free hand, there is no pressure on them."
“Obviously the situation was such … we knew that in terms of batting, we had only five or six batsmen, that we could plan and go ahead with this game, so we focussed on those. There were no such instructions on how to play, yes they will be disappointed, but every opportunity they get to represent the country, they will learn," Mhambrey said at a virtual press conference.
There was a lot of uncertainty over the staging of second T20I as India all-rounder Krunal Pandya returned COVID-19 positive on Tuesday (July 27).
While Krunal was separated from the Indian contingent on the same day, eight Team India members who were in close contact with him didn’t feature in the second game as well.
“Rahul (Dravid) was constantly in touch with the BCCI officials. We were told that, see whatever decision will be taken, we will be informed, so we were ahead anyway with our preparation," Mhambrey said.
Chasing 133 to win, Sri Lanka rode on Dhananjaya de Silva’s unbeaten 40 off 34 balls and Minod Bhanuka’s 31-ball 36 to get over the line with two balls to spare.
The spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav (2-30), Varun Chakravarthy (1-18) and Rahul Chahar (1-27) bowled brilliantly for India and took four wickets between them.
Commenting on Kuldeep, Mhambrey said: "He (Kuldeep) is a very thinking bowler. They are a lot of discussions we had during the period that we spend before the games together, seen the videos, discussing on the plans, and it all boils down to execution. And so, the credit should be given to him."
According to Mhambrey, Kuldeep will have to keep working hard to retain his place in the squad.
“…he is in and out of the team for a while now, which he knows, he also knows that he needs to work hard to maintain his position which he is doing, so happy to see that," he said.
“And I’m very happy with the results that he is getting. I am sure he will take a lot of positives from this since the T20 World Cup is also around the corner, and it really increases his chances to be part of the squad."
Paras Mhambrey also expressed happiness over the progress of many young players in the ongoing Sri Lanka tour.
“Pretty happy with their performance and I have seen them in the past in the last few years when I was associated with them, they have been part of the India A set up for a while and very pleased with the way they have progressed.
“They definitely had a lot of potential and that is the reason, they are representing the country."
(With PTI inputs)