Devdutt Padikkal is set to join the Indian cricket team for the first time for their third game against England, starting on February 15.
He is stepping in for KL Rahul from Karnataka, who can’t play in the third Test because of a knee injury. The Indian Cricket Board, BCCI, announced that although Rahul is almost ready to play again, he will keep getting better at the cricket academy in Bengaluru so he can play in the fourth and fifth Test matches.
KL Rahul has been playing exceptionally well in all types of cricket games since he came back from a break just before the 2023 World Cup. In the first Test match against England, which India did not win, he scored more runs than any other Indian player in the first innings, making 87 runs, and scored another 22 runs in the second innings. Unfortunately, he can’t play right now, which is not good for the team. However, this gives a chance to another player who has been doing well and scoring a lot of runs in domestic cricket.
Padikkal is well-known from his games in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but he’s also done really well in longer cricket matches. At just 23, he has played 31 of these matches and scored 2,227 runs. This means he averages about 44.54 runs each time he bats, and he has hit six full centuries (100 runs or more) and 12 half-centuries (50 runs or more).
This season, Devdutt Padikkal has been playing exceptionally well. In just four games, he scored a total of 556 runs with a remarkable average score of about 93 each time he played. He has made it past 50 runs six times, and on three of those occasions, he went on to score 100 runs or more. Recently, in a game that ended without a winner against Tamil Nadu in Chennai, Padikkal was the best player, scoring 151 in one innings and 36 in another. His best performance so far was 193 runs in one game against Punjab at the beginning of the season.
Padikkal played for the India A team against the England Lions in Ahmedabad and did really well, scoring 65, 21, and an impressive 105 runs. His big score of 105 in the second unofficial Test match was a key part in India A’s huge effort with the bat in the first innings, which led to them winning the match by an innings.
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After a tough couple of years, Devdutt Padikkal is now doing really well. Back in 2020 and 2021, he scored a lot of runs playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, getting 473 and 411 runs. Because of this, he got to play for India in fast-paced cricket games but didn’t make a big impact in his two games against Sri Lanka in July 2021. Things got harder when he got sick and couldn’t play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the whole season of 2022, and he didn’t score much in the Ranji Trophy matches either. Even in the IPL 2023, he only made 261 runs. Then, he hurt his thumb and couldn’t play in the Maharaja KSCA T20 Trophy. But now, he’s playing great in the longer cricket matches again.
Is it possible for a player to make their first appearance in a Test match in Rajkot?
Padikkal already knows what it’s like to be with the Indian main cricket team. He played in two short, fast-paced international games (T20Is) and also spent time practicing with the main team when they were playing Test matches in South Africa, because he was with the India A team that went there at the same time.
Padikkal, typically opening the batting, has adeptly adjusted to playing at the No.3 and No.4 positions for his state team, Karnataka. With India’s lineup missing a few key players—Shreyas Iyer is out for the remaining series, KL Rahul is sidelined due to injury, and Virat Kohli is also not available—the middle order has a couple of openings to fill for the upcoming third Test in Rajkot. Ravindra Jadeja’s fitness remains uncertain, adding to the speculation about the final team composition. Rajat Patidar got his chance in the second Test, while Sarfaraz Khan was benched. Given these factors, there’s a palpable opportunity for both Sarfaraz and Padikkal to don the whites for their Test debuts in Rajkot.
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