Kolkata: Three deliveries into their innings, India had already lost Yashasvi Jaiswal. At 0/1, with the new ball moving and a Test place potentially at stake, this was not the time for Devdutt Padikkal to advertise his strokeplay. It was the moment to show India why he might belong at No.3.
By the time he had left the field, unbeaten on 142 from 164 balls, Padikkal had done something more useful than make a hundred in a warm-up — he had shown how his game can evolve within an innings. This was, by all means, an audition gone well.
Padikkal’s innings against Sri Lanka Cricket XI came in two phases. The first was about control. With KL Rahul alongside him, Padikkal absorbed the early movement, rotated the strike and resisted the temptation to chase the game. Rahul’s 40 from 67 balls provided an experienced anchor, allowing Padikkal to gradually increase the pressure on the bowlers. He wasn’t suddenly attacking everything though. A pull here, a cut there, bookended by risk free singles, Padikkal made scoring look relatively easy.
It wasn’t though. The pitch at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground in Colombo still looked green but the second day wear and tear had set in, making the ball turn almost square when it landed on the rough. Rahul found out the hard way when he was bowled by Keshara Nuwantha at 96/2 while trying to go for a shot across the line. By then, Padikkal had moved to 52 from 61 balls, setting up the platform from where he could ease into a different mode.
Ravindra Jadeja joined him, and spin became the main challenge. Padikkal’s response was particularly relevant for India, given what awaits them in Galle, venue of the first Test. His long stride allowed the left-handed batter to get close to the ball and smother turn. When the spinners were short, he swept. When they overpitched, he drove. Padikkal’s reach gave him access to scoring areas without requiring extravagant movement, Jadeja proving the perfect foil at the other end once he figured out that staying back in the crease was allowing him more time to read the turn.
The result was a second phase that was faster but did not feel riskier. Padikkal and Jadeja added 72 runs, with Jadeja’s running keeping the field under pressure and Padikkal increasingly finding boundaries. He reached his hundred in 121 balls with a pull through midwicket for four, having survived a caught-and-bowled chance on 99 off Ramesh Mendis. He retired, and pretty quickly India lost another four wickets.
Once again Rishabh Pant was dismissed in familiar fashion, trying to hit off-spinner Ramesh Mendis over long-on but getting a leading edge to long-off. Dhruv Jurel departed soon after, but Manav Suthar impressed with his resilient 90-ball 41.
When he returned after the fall of the eighth wicket, Padikkal did not need time to restart. He resumed scoring almost immediately, finding boundaries off Mendis, Vishwa Fernando, Isitha Wijesundera and Lahiru Kumara. That matters because it showed his innings was not simply a long accumulation against tiring bowlers. Padikkal adapted to the game state, left and then adapted again.
This was a timely hundred too in the context of Padikkal’s career. Despite a blockbuster debut against England in Dharamsala in early 2024, he has only played another Test — at Perth later that year. Sidelined from the England tour because of an injury, Padikkal has been biding his time for a Test return for a while. Bolstering his case has been Padikkal’s domestic form — scoring 543 runs in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy at 60.33, including a career-best 232 against Uttarakhand.
Domestic numbers rarely guarantee a Test rebirth though. But by staying consistent, Padikkal has prised open another opportunity, and delivered once again. With Sai Sudharsan’s injury leaving India’s No.3 position uncertain, Padikkal is an obvious stylistic alternative — another left-hander, comfortable against spin and increasingly experienced at managing different phases of an innings.
If India’s first Test turns into a battle of patience against spin, Padikkal’s method could prove useful. A tour match is not a Test, and a Sri Lankan Cricket XI is not Sri Lanka’s Test attack.
But India are not searching for proof that Padikkal can score runs in a warm-up. They are looking for evidence that he can solve a problem at No.3. On that front, this was an unusually complete audition. He walked in at 0/1 and played like a No.3, absorbing pressure, building the innings brick by brick, slowly changing gears against spin and then resuming without fuss when asked to return. Just like how India would have liked it.
Brief scores: SLC XI 363/8 decl. India 357/6 (KL Rahul 40, D Padikkal 142*, R Jadeja 63, M Suthar 41, R Mendis 2/77, A Manoj 2/32).
