Pant expected to bat after retiring hurt on first day

The India wicketkeeper had retired hurt after copping a blow on the wrist of his left hand while attemping a pull off Kumara

Rishabh Pant is expected to bat in India's first innings, after retiring hurt early in the third session of the first day's play at SSC. This at least was what India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said after play on day one.

Pant had been attempting to pull a 133kph short ball from Lahiru Kumara over deep backward square leg for six, when he was struck on the wrist of his bottom hand (left hand). He did not immediately appear to be in severe discomfort, but did receive medical attention for several minutes before leaving the field, not out on 3 off 15 balls.

He was seen in the dugout and in the dressing room through the rest of the day, and had even padded up for the closing overs of day one, though he was not required to bat on Sunday. Kotak said Pant "should be fine" to continue, and named him among the batters he hoped would drive India forward on day two.

If Pant is experiencing significant discomfort on Monday and beyond, India have two back-up wicketkeepers in the XI. The likeliest of them to take the gloves in Pant's absence is Dhruv Jurel, who ordinarily bats at No. 7. KL Rahul also keeps wicket, but as he opens the batting, India will be reluctant to fatigue him in the keeping role.

Kuldeep had viral fever when he left Galle, says Kotak

Kotak also said that Kuldeep Yadav missed the Colombo Test match because of viral fever and that India did not need to "fake" an illness to leave out a player from the XI. India handed offspin-allrounder Saransh Jain a debut, while stating in a release that "Kuldeep can take the field as a concussion substitute, if required". That fuelled speculation that Kuldeep was simply dropped as fingerspinners extracted more from the surface in Galle.Kuldeep Yadav missed the SSC Test because of a viral fever•Getty Images

But Kotak rubbished the theory.

"I don't think that's a relevant question," he said when asked whether Kuldeep would have definitely played had he been fit. "If he is not fit, how will he think if he plays of not? When he left [Galle], he was genuinely having viral (fever)."

"If the team needs a spinner and then he doesn't play, there is no need to fake that he wasn't keeping well. When the guy is not in position to play, there is no point thinking about whether he would have been fit or not. It would be very unfair to think that way."

Kotak said Kuldeep has progressed well from his illness, and his non-availability and the presence of left-handers' presence in SL line-up prompted the management to hand debut to Jain.

"He has recovered reasonably well. He looked good when I met him in the evening and, obviously, he wasn't available for the match. So, when it comes to whether we go with three fast bowlers or three spinners and them [Sri Lanka] having four left-handers in top [seven], probably it makes sense to play an off spinner."