NEW DELHI : Six innings into his Test career, Devdutt Padikkal is beginning to look increasingly at home at No. 3 for India. After a superb 167 in Galle, the left-hander followed it up with another hundred at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Sunday, making it back-to-back centuries in India’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka.
Padikkal brought up his hundred off 168 balls, hitting 10 boundaries in an innings built on patience, control and growing authority. He took off his helmet and acknowledged a standing ovation from the Indian dressing room, a moment that felt significant for a batter who is fast turning promise into consistency at the highest level.
He came to the crease at 37/1 in the 11th over and initially put on 29 with Yashasvi Jaiswal. He then joined captain Shubman Gill to add 120 for the third wicket, a partnership that shifted the momentum firmly India’s way.
Padikkal reached his fifty from 90 balls and went into the tea break unbeaten on 63. Once he had settled in, the strokeplay became increasingly fluent. Drives through the off side, authoritative pulls and sharp cuts allowed him to keep the Sri Lankan bowlers under pressure without taking unnecessary risks.
Gill fell for 50 to Asitha Fernando on the stroke of tea, bringing an end to a partnership that had given India control, but Padikkal showed little sign of being affected. He came out after the break and continued in the same measured fashion.
There was no drama around the nervous nineties either. Two crisp cuts in front of point took him from 91 to 99 in quick time before he calmly pushed a single towards long-on to complete his second Test hundred.
Sri Lanka will look back at the start of the innings with regret. Padikkal was dropped first ball and then survived another difficult chance on 1. Given those two opportunities, he made sure the hosts paid heavily.
His hundred also came at a tricky time for India. Rishabh Pant had to retire hurt on 3 after taking a blow to his wrist, leaving Padikkal to rebuild alongside Ravindra Jadeja. The pair settled the innings with an unbeaten half-century partnership, ensuring India did not lose momentum after Pant’s injury.
Padikkal’s numbers in the series are already remarkable. He made 167 and 44 in Galle and has now added another hundred in Colombo. Across four Tests and six innings, he has moved past 400 runs while maintaining an average above 75.
Four of his six Test innings have now produced scores of 50 or more, including two hundreds and two fifties. Even more striking is how comfortably he has performed away from home. More than 300 of his Test runs have come overseas, with both centuries and one of his fifties scored outside India.
The Colombo hundred was also the 11th of Padikkal’s first-class career. In 58 first-class matches and 96 innings, he has scored more than 4,100 runs at an average above 45, along with 21 fifties.
