Devdutt-Padikkal

Picture Credit: Twitter/@BCCI

After two exciting matches in Colombo, the stage was set for the final contest of the ongoing ODI series between India and Sri Lanka. Shikhar Dhawan finally won the coin flip for the first time as captain of Team India and made some huge revelations during the toss. The Men in Blue had made as many as six changes to the side that featured in the last two ODIs, which was expected considering the series was already done and dusted.

Five players were set to make their debuts as they were handed their ODI caps - Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Rahul Chahar, Krishnappa Gowtham and Chetan Sakariya. While there was so much to look forward to in Colombo, something really intriguing was happening meanwhile on social media. Devdutt started to trend on Twitter which left everyone in confusion.

Fans unhappy with Devdutt's exclusion from playing XI

Ahead of the final ODI, there were a lot of speculations around the choice of openers that India will opt for. It was always going to be a choice between Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devdutt Padikkal with either of Shikhar Dhawan or Prithvi Shaw making way for them. However, fans were left quite surprised to see neither of the two getting their ODI caps on Friday.

The netizens flooded social media platform with tweets expressing their disappointment on the decision taken by the Indian team management. While some claimed that Devdutt was very unlucky to miss out on a golden opportunity when everyone else got their chances, few opined that captain Dhawan could have sacrificed his spot to make way for the RCB opener.

Here are the tweets:

Will Padikkal get his opportunity in T20Is?

Although Devdutt Padikkal did miss out on a place in India's playing XI in the ODI series, all is not lost as there is a 3-match T20I series to follow. The RCB opener looked in scintillating touch in the first half of IPL 2021, scoring 195 runs in 6 matches at a strike-rate of 152.34. Considering the fact that Rahul Dravid is trying to give opportunities to new players whenever possible on this tour, there is a likely possibility that Padikkal could make his national debut in T20Is.