Devdutt Padikkal and Sarfaraz Khan found themselves in this kind of changed, charged Test-match situation on Friday. As they have done multiple times over the last few weeks, England’s bowling attack had found a way to stay in a Test match despite spending the preceding two sessions looking entirely inadequate for the conditions. Once again, they were putting India’s most inexperienced batting line-up in recent memory to considerable test.
By the time they had both returned to the warmth of India’s dressing room with 56 and 65 to their respective names, Sarfaraz and Devdutt Padikkal had passed the test so comfortably that it no longer looked like much of a test at all. They had quelled any real threat of an England comeback, and over the course of their 97-run partnership had returned England’s attack to the state of seeming inadequacy. Along the way, they had revealed facets of their game that most fans wouldn’t have seen before.
Devdutt Padikkal in his debut test with innings of 65 impresses all
Devdutt Padikkal could be the tallest specialist batter to play for India, and Sarfaraz is among the shortest. Usually, this sort of odd batting couple tends to present bowling attacks a problem of contrasts: typically, a tall front-foot player who loves driving in the V and a short back-foot player who loves cutting and pulling. Think Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, or Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer.
This pair was different. Sarfaraz, true to type, hangs back to most lengths from the fast bowlers. But so does Padikkal, though he isn’t necessarily a back-foot player. He is, instead, the kind of tall, languid left-hander who doesn’t move his feet all that much but is prepared to trust his timing and drive on the up, peppering the cover point region.
England fully challenged these techniques when these two were new to the crease. Stokes bowled to Sarfaraz with a short mid-on placed next to the pitch, hoping for a push down the ground played with head not quite on top of the ball. He got his wish, too, but the ball went straight back towards the bowler rather than the leg-side catcher, presenting a low, tumbling half-chance – quarter-chance, really – that Stokes couldn’t cling onto in his follow-through. Then the no-ball siren blared, meaning his efforts would have counted for nothing if he’d managed to complete the catch.
Anderson was hoping for a similar error from Devdutt Padikkal, with two catchers at short point and short cover point waiting for the uppish, sliced drive played with weight not fully forward. This didn’t quite come about, but it so nearly could have. Padikkal edged Anderson wide of slip once – he also did this against Stokes to bring up his first runs in Test cricket – and drove successfully on the up a couple of times, and also hit a drive in the air but into the gap between cover point and extra cover.
Very few significant partnerships in Test cricket come about without the batters enjoying a bit of luck, and this was no different. By the time Anderson and Stokes were done with their spells, Padikkal was batting on 30 off 32 balls and Sarfaraz on 7 off 20.
The introduction of spin reversed this scoring pattern. Devdutt Padikkal, whose height and reach and left-handedness should theoretically make him a menace against left-arm spin, went into a shell against Tom Hartley, revealing an unusually crease-bound defensive method. Sarfaraz, meanwhile, began to bring out his attacking game: a short ball walloped to the midwicket boundary, a good-length ball slog-swept daringly in the same region, over a leaping fielder placed two-thirds of the way to the boundary.
Devdutt Padikkal’s first-class record isn’t flash: he averaged 44.54 before this match. But he’s turned a corner as a red-ball player over this 2023-24 season. He came into it with an average of 36.25, and proceeded to make his case for Test selection with four hundreds in ten innings for Karnataka and India A, converting two of them into 150-plus scores.
He’s clearly found an understanding of his game, what its limits are and how best to harness its strengths. It was showing here too, in his first Test innings, when he was going at a control percentage of over 90 despite camping so much in the crease against both pace and spin.
And he continued to demonstrate how sweetly he can time the ball, caressing Anderson through the covers once again when he returned shortly before tea, and launching Bashir down the ground for an effortless straight six soon after the break. There wouldn’t be a debut hundred, though, as Bashir turned a quick off break past his crease-bound defense on 65. By then, India were past 400, and 185 ahead of England.
Devdutt Padikkal with his valiant efforts ensured that Former Indian player now commentator Aakash Chopra was in all praise of this lanky tall left hander.
Devdutt Padikkal batted well- Aakash Chopra
Former Indian cricketer now commentator Aakash Chopra has lauded Devdutt Padikkal for overcoming his nerves and playing a good knock in India’s first innings at Dharamshala on Friday 8th March 2023. Padikkal scored 65 of 103 as India ended the second day at 473 for 8 . The hosts have 255 runs lead in the first innings and will hope to stretch the advantage further on Day 3.
On Colors Cineplex, Aakash Chopra shared his thoughts on Padikkal’s knock :
“He batted well. There were a few nerves at the start, and they were evident as well because the front foot was not moving. He got a few outside edges as well, but that was an interesting phase of the match.”
The former India opener noted that the debutant started his innings at a crucial juncture.
“Test cricket puts you in such situations at times. Although you came after a very big partnership, suddenly one more wicket fell, and two England fast bowlers were bowling slightly well, so you had to consolidate there,” Chopra explained.
Chopra is happy that the Karnataka batter is off to a good start to his test career.
“There was no doubt that India were ahead, but you had to play for yourself and take your team to a solid position as well. He is a proper player, plays well and has got a good start, which is a great thing,” he added.
Devdutt Padikkal walked out to bat at the fall of Rohit Sharma’s wicket. With another centurion Shubman Gill falling soon after the left hander added 97 runs for the fourth wicket with Sarfaraz Khan who scored 56 runs of 60 balls to consolidate India’s position.