Devdutt Padikkal staked a claim for the No.3 spot in the India Test XI with a hundred in the warm-up match ahead of the Sri Lanka series.
Batting at No.3 in Sai Sudharsan’s absence, Padikkal scored 103 off 121 before retiring out in the tour gameagainst Sri Lanka Cricket XI. Sudharsan had picked up a toe injury during India A’s tour of Sri Lanka in June-July this year and his availability for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka was subject to fitness clearance.
Widespread reports from the India media now claim that Sudharsan has been ruled out of the series after failing to recover in time. This has potentially cleared the path for Padikkal to slot in at No.3 in the first Test in Galle, starting August 15.
The Karnataka batter was named in the India squad for Sri Lanka Tests as a batting cover on the back of a stellar domestic season. He was also part of the A squad that toured Sri Lanka under Sudharsan’s captaincy, and scored a 94 in the second unofficial Test.
💯 for Devdutt Padikkal! 🙌🙌
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 8, 2026
A superb knock from the left-handed batter in the warm-up game against SLC XI! 👏 👏
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/g7rdlUUjY2 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/eb0p6gnyEQ
Devdutt Padikkal set to play a Test after 20 months
Padikkal made his Test debut for India during England’s visit in 2024 after being called up as an injury replacement for KL Rahul midway through the series. The call-up came on the back of a brilliant start to the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season, where he had scored 556 runs in six innings at 92.66, with three hundreds.
Padikkal made a 65 in his debut Test innings in the fifth match of the series in Dharamsala as India won by an innings and 64 runs. He had to wait another nine months for his second Test appearance, with KL and Virat Kohli returning to the XI. But that was a tough outing as he got a 23-ball duck in the first innings and scored 25 in the second in the Perth Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in November 2024.
Shubman Gill’s return and a packed top order saw Padikkal limited to two Test appearances even as he piled on the runs in the domestic circuit. In six matches of the last Ranji Trophy season, he scored 543 runs at 60.33 with two hundreds and a fifty. He was in breathtaking form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, hitting four hundreds in five matches at one stage and eventually finishing with 725 runs in nine matches at 90.62.
The RCB star enjoyed a strong IPL season as well – his best so far in seven terms – to score 464 runs in 16 matches at a strike-rate of 168.72, helping the franchise win a second consecutive title.
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