On the eve of the fifth India-England Test, Devdutt Padikkal was waiting for his turn to bat during the team’s optional training session. The players expected to start in the fixture were ahead in the queue and Padikkal, padded up, looked on as the likes of Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rajat Patidar faced a mix of throwdown specialists and net bowlers. After nearly 20 minutes, he finally entered the nets when batting coach Vikram Rathour shouted “change” and asked Patidar to take a break.
Padikkal looked relaxed, was chatting with Rathour and throwdown specialists between deliveries and was enjoying his hit. He wasn’t the original choice in the XI and was just having a good time in the nets.
All that, however, changed in a few hours when he got a message. The 23-year-old was informed that he “could be playing” the next morning and the message led to a very tough night’s sleep for the youngster. It was confirmed before the toss that Padikkal was going to be India’s Test player 314 and the fifth debutant of the series as Patidar was ruled out due to an injury. Did the late information help as there wasn’t much time for thoughts to creep into the head?
“Regardless of when you get to know, there is always going to be nervousness around. That was still there. I got a message the previous night saying that I could be playing. I was nervous, it was a tough night’s sleep but it is something you also enjoy at the same time. You live for those days,” says Padikkal after the end of the second day.
The stylish southpaw was padded for a long time and finally walked out to bat when Ben Stokes castled Rohit Sharma to break a fluent 171-run stand after lunch. There were early nerves but Padikkal grew in confidence with every boundary he hit. In no time, he entered the 30s and looked very assured vs both spin and pace. There were some gorgeous cover drives, an authoritative six to bring up the half-century but the one boundary which he enjoyed the most was the outside edge to get off the mark.
“Every boundary is enjoyable but the first boundary, off the edge, was most enjoyable because those were my first runs in Test cricket,” chuckles Padikkal.
With Sarfaraz Khan, Padikkal put on 97 crucial runs and the two were very chatty during their partnership. Sarfaraz had earlier said that he enjoys talking while batting and Padikkal had no option but to keep his partner entertained. It wasn’t any serious cricket talk but “just some light stuff”.
“It’s always fun to bat with Sarfaraz Khan. He is a great character to have around. It was just some light stuff and nothing too serious. We weren’t really discussing the game a lot, we just wanted to make sure we make each other comfortable on the ground. You are two against eleven, so we just tried making each other comfortable and enjoyed batting with each other,” says Padikkal.
The Karnataka batter was drafted into the squad only after KL Rahul became unavailable for the third Test in Rajkot. Padikkal’s addition came on the back of a bumper domestic season where he scored runs by the tons for both his state and India A.
In his last six First-class outings, he hit three hundreds and a half-century and it was the most recent century – 151 vs Tamil Nadu at Chepauk – which pushed his case. Men’s senior selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar was in the stands when the left-hander took the Tamil Nadu bowlers on and hit 12 boundaries and six sixes during the knock.
“Obviously runs give you confidence and it was not any different for me. For the first couple of years, I wasn’t doing well in First-class cricket but you keep working hard, try to improve your game and make those small adjustments. I am still learning and still making adjustments,” says Padikkal.
It was a bout with stomach illness which kept Padikkal away from the game for a long time and that period allowed the youngster to fall in love with the sport again.
“Technically I made a couple of small changes but mentally yes, I made the changes. I wanted to ensure that I enjoy the game a lot more because the last couple of years I couldn’t play that often and missing on games made me realise how much I missed the sport. How much I want to be in the action, doing things I loved as a kid. That’s what I focussed on – just having fun and enjoying the sport,” says Padikkal.
On debut, he focussed on doing just that and having a character like Sarfaraz for a company would have certainly helped.
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