S Badrinath played a crucial innings in India's second ODI against Sri Lanka in Dambulla and Sunil Gavaskar is glad the batsman spoke out against the selectors after initially being excluded from the squad. He writes in the Hindustan Times:

There is not the slightest doubt that had he not expressed his bafflement at being continually ignored for national selection and not being told what he needs to do by any selector, he would not have been picked as a replacement for Virender Sehwag. By saying what he did immediately after the one-day team to Sri Lanka was announced he brought attention to the selectors wandering minds that here was a player who had done no wrong and needed to be given a chance, or as Badri himself put it, given a chance to fail. Make no mistake, if he had not given that interview the selectors would have turned to Dinesh Karthik, or the perennial standby Mohammad Kaif, to take the place of the injured Sehwag.

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