DAMBULLA, June 9 -- There was a very specific category of cricket watcher tuned in at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Tuesday: the Indian selector. Not every member of the panel, perhaps, and not necessarily in the stadium itself, but their gaze was present all the same. When Vaibhav Sooryavanshi walked out as India A's opener with the world's expectation draped over a 15-year-old's shoulders, and was gone inside four overs for 14, the match's real drama had not yet started. It started when Ruturaj Gaikwad took his stance at the crease with the score at 17 for two and decided that this would not be the kind of day anyone remembered for the wrong reasons.

Gaikwad made 101 off 114 balls. He was there when India A recovered fr...