Devdutt Padikkal puts away India’s No.3 debate – for now

First things first. Devdutt Padikkal’s two hundreds in in Sri Lanka may not seem a lot – unless one adds perspective. Only four Indian No.3s have scored more hundreds outside India, and all of them have batted at least 30 times.

One may say Padikkal has solved India’s No.3 problem. Yes, there was indeed a problem: between January 2019 and the start of the Sri Lanka series, only one Indian (Cheteshwar Pujara in Chattogram in December 2022) had scored a Test hundred while batting at one-drop outside India. Between Pujara’s and Padikkal’s hundreds, the Indian No.3s had averaged 20.10 away from home – the worst for any country.

It was not for lack of trying. As Pujara was fading out, India demoted Shubman Gill from the top. When Gill missed Tests, they tried Padikkal, Virat Kohli, then KL Rahul. As soon as Kohli vacated the No.4 spot in 2025, Gill – by then the Test captain – dropped down … and found runs. So India went from Sai Sudharsan to Karun Nair to even their own “false three”, Washington Sundar, but with little results.

Despite a Test average of 32, Sai Sudharsan seemed to be India’s one-drop batter of choice. As recently as this June, head coach Gautam Gambhir promised to give him “a long rope” – the kind of backing every cricketer seeks from the team management. Unfortunately, an injury ruled him out of the Sri Lanka tour.

With two fifties for India A and an unbeaten 142 in the tour game – all in red-ball cricket in Sri Lanka since June 2026 – Padikkal was ready. With two more hundreds in the two Tests, he has batted Sai Sudharsan out of the Test XI, at least for now.

And along with the questions at no.3, Padikkal’s exploits in Sri Lanka also solved another problem that India have struggled to find a solution for - a batter who can take on the spinners.

Padikkal’s unusual approach

Indian Test batters are supposed to play spin better than anyone for two reasons. One, they have learnt to bat in conditions that assist spin. And two, they do not have to face the best spin attack in Test cricket. While India’s spinners orchestrated their world record streak of 18 consecutive home Test series wins between 2012/13 and 2024/25, the batters played their part as well. During their 18-series streak, Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Mayank Agarwal, and Yashasvi Jaiswal all averaged more than 60 at home; Pujara and M Vijay above 45; and Shikhar Dhawan, Gill, Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja above 40.

That pattern was jolted in 2024/25. In three Tests, the New Zealand spinners shared 37 wickets at 23.48, the best average by any touring side in two decades. Things took a turn for the worse the year after, when their South African counterparts got 25 wickets in two Tests at 15.48, the best in India in the history of Test cricket.

India collapsed against spin repeatedly, until it became a near-routine. They lost all five Tests, and their unprecedented winning streak was followed by the sort of humiliation they had never known.

Worse, it happened to two almost completely different sets of batters. Rohit, Kohli, Gill, and Sarfaraz Ahmed had all played against New Zealand. By the time South Africa came, Rohit and Kohli had retired, Sarfaraz had fallen out of contention, and Gill was ruled out with a neck injury right at the start of the series.

Too many Indians had succumbed to spin. Between them, they managed only one hundred and nine fifties across the five Tests, and none of them even averaged forty.

When the Sri Lanka series came around, India faced a side which was not in the top half of the WTC points table, but did have spinners who thrived in these conditions. Things were expected to be challenging for an Indian unit that had often collapsed to spin.

It was under these circumstances that Padikkal returned to the playing XI to replace Sai Sudharsan. He rode on a domestic first-class season where he scored 812 runs at 47.76 (including 150 against Australia A and 232 in the Ranji Trophy semi-final). He scored runs for fun in 50-over cricket. He got a big hundred in the tour game. He was already getting the big runs: he now had to convert them at Test level.

And he did precisely that. He had played two Tests in 2024, but this was the first time he was getting a full series. At Galle, he began with 167 and added 44 in the second innings for good measure. And he continued at the SSC, with 117. What stood out throughout the series was how comfortable he was against spin: he struck at 65, the fastest for any Indian No.3 with 300 in a series since VVS Laxman against Australia in that series in 2000/01.

Here, Padikkal brought his own approach to handling spin. He revelled in his judicious use of the depth of the batting crease, often playing back to the length balls. In doing that, he forced the spinners to toss the ball up, and they faced a problem. At six foot three, Padikkal is the tallest of India’s specialist batters. Due to this, he finds it easier to use his reach and convert more balls into overpitched deliveries. Across the three series, no Indian batter has used the depth of the crease to counter spin bowled on a length like this.

Contrast this approach to his teammates. Over the same three series, Rahul used the front foot to 70 per cent of length balls from spinners. Jaiswal, 60. Pant, 59 … but he steps out to another 12. The Indian response to spin is usually to thwart it on the front foot. Padikkal does it differently.

India batters against length balls from spinners (v New Zealand 2024/25, v South Africa 2025/26, v Sri Lanka 2026)

Cut-off: 300 balls. Source: CricViz.

Player	% of length balls played off the back-foot
Devdutt Padikkal	37.4%
Ravindra Jadeja	31.0%
Shubman Gill	25.1%
KL Rahul	24.5%
Rishabh Pant	24.0%
Washington Sundar	23.3%
Yashasvi Jaiswal	22.3%

A comparison to his Sai Sudharsan, the man he replaced, will not be out of place here. He did not face as many length balls from spinners, but when he did, he played back-foot to a comparable 36.5 per cent. However, while Padikkal strikes at 50 off these strokes, Sai Sudharsan’s is in single digits. Playing back is not merely Padikkal’s survival technique: he can also score using that.

Padikkal’s footwork, a product of his towering frame, has been key to how he plays spin in Asian conditions. Going on the back foot to length balls buys him time. In this, his approach is almost unIndian.

In Sri Lanka, India won one Test match fewer than they should have, but they will leave having filled a gaping hole in their Test XI. Nathan Lyon has undoubtedly dissected his footwork, but how Padikkal handles him is likely to play a major role in India’s performance in early 2027.

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