New Delhi: The bat of Devdutt Padikkal, the young and promising batsman of the Indian cricket team, has once again roared at the historic Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo. In the ongoing second Test match against Sri Lanka, Padikkal displayed his class, patience and excellent technique and scored his second consecutive century. This attractive and responsible inning of his not only won the hearts of the fans, but also put the Indian team in a very strong and safe position in the match.
Completed the second century of his career in 168 balls.
Padikkal did not give any chance to the Sri Lankan bowlers. He completed the second century of his Test career facing 168 balls. He played an inning of 117 runs.
Earlier, Padikkal's performance was excellent in the first match of the series played in Galle, where he won the title of 'Player of the Match' by scoring 167 runs in the first innings and 44 runs in the second innings.
Padikkal joins the club of greats
Scoring two consecutive centuries in the same Test series on the difficult pitches of Sri Lanka is considered very special. With this historic performance, Devdutt Padikkal has registered his name in the list of legendary batsmen of Indian cricket.
Earlier, only great players like Vinod Kambli, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Shikhar Dhawan had been able to achieve the feat of scoring two centuries in the same series on Sri Lankan soil. Padikkal has now become the new Indian batsman to join this exclusive club.
Lucky chance
Interestingly, before the start of the series, Padikkal was not the first choice of the Indian playing-11. Had Sai Sudarshan been fully fit, perhaps Padikkal would have had to wait to get a place in the playing eleven. But luck turned the tables and with Sudarshan not converting back-to-back chances into big scores, Padikkal got the opportunity. Sudarshan had scored 383 runs in 7 Test matches, but he failed to reach a century, while Padikkal proved his ability by taking full advantage of the opportunity he got.
The biggest puzzle of number 3 was solved
In Indian Test history, after legends like Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara, the number three batting order has always been considered very sensitive and responsible. Padikkal, who scored the highest individual score (167) for India at the third position after 2009 in Galle, has made it clear by scoring a century in Colombo also that he is a long race horse. With two consecutive centuries, he has not only solved the biggest headache for the selectors, but has also almost confirmed his place at the number 3 position for the coming long Test season.