Despite the unwavering backing to B. Sai Sudharsan from India’s team management in the past, the writing is on the wall.

An unfortunate toe injury ruled out Sudharsan from the two-Test series in Sri Lanka. In his absence, another southpaw, Devdutt Padikkal, lapped up the opportunity, produced back-to-back hundreds, and thus threw his hat in the ring for a No. 3 spot.

In four Tests, Padikkal averages nearly 73 against spin, far better than Sudharsan’s 40 in six games, and is the frontrunner to play one-down during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later next year.

Even though he might have to prove his credentials all over again, Sudharsan does not rue his absence from the team that set him back in the race for No. 3.

“First of all, it’s not frustrating at all. It’s just the journey we are going through. And our body also responds to certain things. It’s about that. We are also refining our habits every day. So, it’s a good thing.

“It’s a great opportunity to come back and play. When I played on the first day, that’s when I felt how badly I missed that feeling of playing inside. So, it was a great opportunity and a good outing as well,” he said during the first unofficial Test against Australia-A in Puducherry – his first game since returning from injury.

There’s nothing better than a great comeback and Sudharsan needed nothing less than great to catch the selectors’ attention. He’s still very much in the overall scheme of things, just slightly lower in the order, and needed a big score to send a gentle reminder.

Sudharsan very nearly managed it. He did the hard yards, laid the foundation, and then threw it away on half-a-whim.

Signs of treacherous bounce on the pitch were evident since day one.

Sudharsan negotiated with all such curveballs. His fall though came on an innocuous long hop, which he went to pull and miscued to short midwicket. He was on 57.

By the third day when Sudharsan came out again, the cracks had opened up, the pitch had deteriorated further, and there was a significant rough to exploit. Then there was the nightmare of an outfield on one end which gobbled up any shot along the ground, making aerial shots the only viable option to pick boundaries.

“It’s more of learning how to go score runs. As you see, the ground does not have a flying outfield. So, you got to run a lot. From my mindset, the boundaries were always the other side of the ground. So, you had to plan a certain way to score a lot of boundaries this side. And not force so much because that side is anyway very slow. And we got to run a lot,” Sudharsan said.

Sudharsan did the complicated stuff well: picking the right areas to attack, knowing which bowler to go after, and safely playing out the venomous deliveries with soft hands. Once again, it was ordinary that hurt him.

With a 68-run partnership, Padikkal and Sudharsan had blunted Australia-A’s spirits, which had been buoyant at the onset of a new day. Murphy had gone wicketless in his first spell and was returning for another on the cusp of lunch. He bowled a rank ordinary full-lengthed delivery which barely turned. Sudharsan went for a sweep, bungled it up and was given lbw.

“On wickets like these, it’s important to put the bowlers on the back foot and keep pressing them. So, the options were clear. Maybe the execution could have been better from my side. Both the offspinners bowled very well. The wicket assisted quite a lot. So, it was about how we use our feet and how we read the length as early as possible and choose the right options. But at least, I feel there’s a lot of learning from this game. And obviously, after getting set, maybe I can make it a bigger innings rather than getting out to cheeky shots,” Sudharsan said.

Scores of 57 and 39 are not bad on a turning, red-soil wicket. But they’re not good enough either for a batter eyeing a statement return. This leaves Sudharsan with just as much to do and with one game less in hand.