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STUMP VISION AUGUST 28, 2026 | The Indian Eye 44

From the Bench to the Summit:

Devdutt Padikkal’s Galle Statement

Padikkal’s cricket was shaped at Bengaluru’s Karnataka Institute of Cricket,

where his coaches turned a promising off-spinner into a stylish top-order batter.

His 2019-20 season remains the benchmark of his early career

ARCHAN MEHTA

onventional wisdom says a
tall batter facing a sharp turn
Cshould lean forward, use his
long reach, and smother the ball at
the pitch. Devdutt Padikkal, all 6 foot
3 inches of him, tore up that manu-
al at Galle. On a sweltering open-
ing day, the 26-year-old left-hander
walked away with an unbeaten 131
off 178 balls against Sri Lanka, built
not on tentative half-forward pushes
but on deep crease play, wristy touch,
and a calm, clear game plan. He only
got his chance because regular No.
3 B. Sai Sudharsan broke down with On a sweltering opening day, the 26-year-old left-hander walked away with an unbeaten 131 off 178 balls against Sri Lanka (ANI photo)
a toe injury, but Padikkal made the
opportunity entirely his own, steering Cricket, where his coaches turned a Padikkal responded by going back season, he scored a colossal 232 in
India to 288 for 2 and reopening the promising off-spinner into a stylish to basics, rebuilding his body and the semifinal, then kept the run of
debate around India’s middle-order top-order batter. His 2019-20 season reworking his upright stance to give form going with 120 not out, 67, and
pecking order. remains the benchmark of his early himself a sturdier defensive game 94 for India A in Galle, plus a bruis-
The innings had one moment career, when he topped run charts suited to red-ball cricket. ing 142 not out in the tour warm-up.
that summed up everything Padikkal in both the Vijay Hazare and Syed The results were hard to ignore. His first-class average now sits above
is about. Facing left-arm spinner Pra- Mushtaq Ali trophies for Karnataka. He piled up 556 Ranji Trophy runs at 44 from 54 matches, the record of a
bath Jayasuriya on a surface turning That form carried him to the IPL, nearly 93 in the 2023-24 season, add- batter who had simply outgrown the
sharply, he went from 51 to 55 with where 473 runs for Royal Challeng- ed twin centuries against the England domestic circuit.
a stroke few batters his height would ers Bengaluru in 2020 won him the Lions, and struck 151 against Tamil Padikkal’s century hands India’s
attempt: back foot planted outside Emerging Player award, ahead of Nadu, form that earned him Test cap selectors a genuine headache. Sai
off, hips cleared, bat coming down names like Virat Kohli and AB de No. 314 against England at Dharam- Sudharsan, 24, averages 43 in first-
against the spin to beat both cov- Villiers. A rapid IPL hundred and a sala in March 2024. A composed 65 class cricket, with two eighties in
er fielders. He had announced his clutch of List A centuries soon fol- on debut, though, was followed by his last five Tests. Sudharsan reads
intent from the first ball of the day, lowed, and international recognition five Tests on the sidelines. Recalled length from a low crouch; Padikkal
pulling it for four, then launching a arrived with a T20I cap in 2021. for the 2024-25 Perth Test against frees his arms off an upright stance
straight six two balls later. Boundar- Then the setbacks piled up. A Australia, he made a painful start: a built for pace and bounce. Dropping
ies made up under half his runs, yet stubborn intestinal infection com- 23-ball duck against Mitchell Starc a centurion who tamed Galle’s turn
he kept the innings moving at better bined with COVID-19 cost him and Josh Hazlewood, before a fight- would be brutal. But Padikkal has
than 70 to the hundred through busy nearly 10 kilograms and much of his ing 25 in the second innings. Fourteen waited before and he knows how to
running and sharp placement, giving strength through 2022 and into 2023. more Tests passed without a look-in. strike when the door opens.
Sri Lanka’s spinners no rhythm at all. A move to the middle order at Ra- Rather than let the wait wear
None of this came easily. Pa- jasthan Royals, a broken thumb, and him down, Padikkal used it to dom- Archan Mehta is a writer dedicated to
dikkal’s cricket was shaped at Ben- a quiet IPL 2024 with Lucknow Su- inate domestic cricket further. Lead- telling compelling stories about athletes,
galuru’s Karnataka Institute of per Giants added to the frustration. ing Karnataka in the 2025-26 Ranji teams, and the world of cricket

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