Sonal Dinusha was at the square boundary closest to the tunnel leading to the dressing rooms. But he waited. He waited until all the Sri Lanka players headed towards it at Lunch time, so he could offer a pat on the back to every member of the side. Sri Lanka had India two down at the break - what that kind of a start meant wasn't lost one one of the newer members of the side after Dhananjaya de Silva lost another crucial toss.

A day earlier, the Sri Lanka captain sat at a press conference and read the Colombo pitch like the back of his hand. He had predicted plenty of carry and bounce on the first two days. Those words rang true every time Lahiru Kumara and Asitha Fernando ran in and bowled length on the first morning. They'd course-correct after starting out full in search of swing, but ended up swearing by the 6-10m zone as the session went on. They delivered 40 balls at good length and prised away the two wickets for just two runs while 14 hard-length balls also gave India only two runs. It was an early sign of the play to come.

The catch though was that this was Colombo, not Wanderers. Fast bowlers had to bend their backs for longer to get any purchase out of the wicket, and the searing heat didn't make it easy. Before the Lunch break came, Padikkal was on edge to begin with. While on zero, he drove the nearly into the hands of Dinusha at backward point and then had the good fortune of being spilled by Dhananjaya de Silva at first slip while batting on 1. All his conviction from a soft landing in Galle appeared to have been left behind there.

The break offered a chance to regroup and, when he returned with Shubman Gill for company, a vital third-wicket stand began to blossom. Dhananjaya de Silva started the session with spin from both ends, but soon turned to Fernando to ruffle more feathers, having already triggered the emotionally charged exit of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the morning session.

There was a three-ball sequence in the 32nd over, followed by the whole of the 34th, from Fernando to Padikkal that showed what India’s newest No. 3 was really made of. It was past noon and the heat was rising. The bowlers felt it. The batters felt it. The fielders felt it. Even those with the luxury of a roof over their heads in the stands felt it.

But Sri Lanka still had a spring in their step. Fernando sprinted in from over the wicket and banged the ball in short. Padikkal ducked under it. The bowler walked back, turned around and loaded up again. Same delivery, same response. In search of a reaction, Fernando switched sides and bowled the same ball. Same response.

The mini-tussle spilled into his next over too. Six balls, all short. Padikkal ducked under five and tried an upper cut at the other, but couldn't connect. It was perhaps the only moment of lapse in an otherwise monk-like concentration, all while dealing with the sapping weather. Padikkal faced 18 bouncers on the day and was happy to collect just nine runs from them. Fernando, meanwhile, was spent at the end of a three-over spell that didn't extend, however tempting it may have been for Dhananjaya.

Gill and Padikkal still took quick runs off the spinners which pushed Dhananjaya into a corner. To stop the rut, Sri Lanka went ultra-defensive with their lines to both the batters. Gill had no intention of even attempting the sweep against deliveries pitched outside the leg-stump and turning - he kept padding them away. At the other end, Padikkal followed suit. This went on for a while to dry up the runs but when Sri Lanka reverted their tactics, runs came again.

Padikkal faced exactly 150 deliveries from spin on Day 1, with 107 on a good length (3-5m). He took exactly 50 runs from it. Going slightly shorter (5-6m) was not a good idea against the left-hander, who milked 26 such balls for 28 runs. Padikkal's tendency to play on the backfoot has been clear from Galle; here too he went back on 61 balls and took 51 runs from it.

It was a day of multiple calls for quick drinks, a cold, wet towel around the back of the neck and the attempt to go again. Hydrate and frustrate became both Padikkal and Gill's agenda through their 120-run stand. Towards the end of the session, Dhananjaya brought back Fernando for another burst - and it worked. Gill tamely nicked one away from his body and once against Sri Lanka went into a break with optimism.

Post-Tea it was Lahiru Kumara's turn to test the batting resolve. Rishabh Pant tried to unsettle him by shuffling across and tonking a short ball away but took a stinging blow to his wrist that didn't let him continue batting. Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak later revealed that he was fine to bat on Day 2, but for a long time since taking the blow, Pant was wincing in pain. In his next over, Kumara's delivery struck Ravindra Jadeja on his left arm and caused a swelling that he shook off and batted on.

At the drinks break in the final session, Padikkal looked completely drained by the weather. He plonked himself on the ground while the support staff arrived with a cold towel, helping him with it and the fluids. In the first over after the break, he reached his second Test hundred, earning fist bumps from Dhananjaya and Niroshan Dickwella. Padikkal forged stands throughout the day to keep pushing India forward, while Sri Lanka kept dragging them back with wickets. He played out 192 deliveries on a tough day before the 193rd came quicker and with more turn than he anticipated, knocking back his stumps.

Neither Gautam Gambhir nor Kotak will concede that the race for the No. 3 spot has already been run and the position is now closed. They will maintain that Sai Sudharsan remains in the picture, having missed this tour through injury. But one of Gill's biggest takeaways from Sri Lanka, besides all the crucial WTC points, will be the comforting knowledge that he now has a No. 3 who can bat time when those around him don't.

Stats inputs from Roshan Gede