Devdutt Padikkal Century India No 3 Galle Sri Lanka 1st Test

In recent years, Devdutt Padikkal may have been hogging the limelight for his batting in limited-overs cricket, where he has excelled out of his comfort zone. But deep down a fire has been burning in the left-hander. “I’ve grown up wanting to play Test cricket. My game is moulded for the format. I want to be a permanent member of the Indian Test team. That hasn’t changed in me,” he had told The Indian Express at the start of this year, when he was in the middle of a purple patch in white-ball cricket.

The moment arrived eight months later, at Galle. With first-choice batsman B Sai Sudharsan missing the series, an opportunity opened up for Padikkal to bat at No. 3 and show why he is best suited to the role. Since Cheteshwar Pujara left the spot in June 2023, India have tried 11 different batsmen there, without finding one who could own the position for long. In three years, no Indian batsman had scored a century from that spot. On Saturday, Padikkal changed that, with a century entirely his own: caution blended with aggression. When he hit one to mid-off and took off for a quick single on the 134th delivery he faced, it brought up three figures.

Yet, when a spot opened up at No. 3, Padikkal wasn’t the first choice. The promise shown by Sai Sudharsan meant India invested in him instead, even while he remained at a developmental stage with flaws still to cover. Had Sudharsan been fit for the series, Padikkal would have warmed the bench here too.

Instead, he was out in the middle within the first hour of the morning, after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dismissal. The intent was clear from the start. His first boundary came off the back foot, against debutant offspinner Keshara Nuwantha. Through the day, Padikkal relied often on back-foot shots to find boundaries. By the sixth ball he faced, he already had a six against his name, this one off left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, who gave a touch more flight than usual; Padikkal was already down the track, and lofted him straight.

With his Karnataka team-mate KL Rahul retreating into his shell at the other end, it was Padikkal who led India’s charge. Confident in his footwork, whether pressing forward to defend, playing off the back foot, or coming down the track, he did it all with clarity. Using his feet let the left-hander open up more angles to score, and, just as importantly, never let the Sri Lankan spinners settle into a sustained spell at him. Every tight single on offer was taken. Twos were pushed. Boundaries never dried up.

For Padikkal, all of it looked routine. It is, after all, what he has been doing consistently on the domestic circuit, where he averages 43.18 in first-class cricket. The conversion rate has been an issue, but among all the options India have tried at No. 3, he looks a natural fit, at least in subcontinental conditions. Like Sudharsan, he too prefers to play the spinners off the back foot, but where Padikkal differs is in how he chooses his lengths. Whenever he intended to defend, he made sure to take a big stride forward. When the length gave him options, he picked the safest one. Even if that meant coming down the track and defending, he did.

In the post-lunch session, there was a passage against the spinners where the game seemed to tighten. But despite the dot balls piling up, Padikkal showed no sign of giving it away. He got to his fifty, and from there it was a different Padikkal, one who took command. The moment the spinners erred even slightly in length, they were punished, Padikkal using the depth of the crease well. Anything in line with the stumps, he whipped through mid-wicket with minimal fuss. There wasn’t much vicious turn on offer, but the majority of his runs against spin came through the square on either side, as he held India’s fort in front of the Galle Fort.

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