Devdutt Padikkal has repaid the faith of all those who believed in him with his first Test century on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Saturday. The pitch at Galle was flat, and the left-handed batsman made the most of the friendly conditions to reach the milestone.
In June and July, the Karnataka batsman played a lot of cricket in Sri Lanka, representing India A. In the three innings he got at that time, he came up with scores of 12, 67 and 94. Both those matches happened to take place at Galle. Then last week, he scored 142 not out against Sri Lanka Cricket XI in the three-day warm-up.
So, one can see there were signs he would come good today. The 26-year-old nicely tapped down Keshara Nuwantha to mid-on for a single to reach his maiden Test century in just 134 balls. It was a flawless innings to all intents and purposes, and the fact that the pitch was offering very little to the bowlers helped him additionally.
However, there were some nervous moments for him in the lead-up to his ton. Off the first ball of the same over, there was a massive appeal for a silly-point catch but of course, the ball went off his pad and not bat. He was on 98 at that time. Then off the next ball, he, seemingly in a rush, hit the spinner towards the midwicket and looked good for a double, but then Indian captain Shubman Gill sent him back, and he had to content himself with just one run. Although TV commentator Sanjay Manjrekar praised Gill for doing that, it was clearly a double. Anyway, Padikkal got there later off the fifth ball of the over.
There was plenty of spotlight on him coming into this game. Since November 2024, he had not had any Test matches to his name. India have long been looking for a solid No.3, and he could play in this game only because of an injury to Sai Sudharsan, India’s No.3 since June 2025 — with the exception of the first Test against South Africa last year in which the Tamil Nadu batter didn’t feature, so that the team could try out a different combination. The last time a No.3 scored a century for India… it was Gill against Bangladesh in Chennai in September 2024. Since then, India have tried several batsmen at that position before they settled on Sudharsan.
So, it’s unlikely Padikkal is going to be able to steal the spot from Sudharsan with this century but what it has done that it has improved his Test credentials. He can always be there as an extra batsman in the squad and if needed, depending on situations, can bat at No.3 or other positions.
Virat Kohli has company now!
Going forward he is going to be a much more confident batsman. He can make his outing even better on Sunday. At the close of play, he was unbeaten on 131 not out as India finished the opening day on 288/2. The pitch is likely to play nicely tomorrow as well, so he should not stop here and look to score a double hundred. It was his day, when all is said and done. His elegance and ease caught the eye for sure. By the way, after Virat Kohli, he became the second Indian batsman to score a century on Independence Day. Kohli had done it in an ODI in 2019. Interesting, isn’t it?
