Top News

India batter Devdutt Padikkal was magnificent with the bat against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Galle. The left-hander scored 167 in the first innings and followed it up with 44 in the second. This took his total match tally to 211 runs, which made him the third Indian batter to tally over 200 runs in an away Test match.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid has achieved this feat on four occasions. Dravid scored 305 runs (233 and 72) during the 2003 Test at Adelaide. He amassed 190 and 103 during the Hamilton Test in 1999 against the Kiwis. His other scores include 270 vs Pakistan in Rawalpindi and 217 vs England at the Oval.

Sanjay Manjrekar is a part of the list for his knock of 218 in the 1989 Test vs Pakistan in Lahore. The former Mumbai batter faced 401 balls and hit 28 boundaries during his knock.

Padikkal is playing just his third game for India, having made his Test debut in early 2024 against England at home. He also played the Perth Test against Australia before being dropped.

Youngster makes lucky chance count

Devdutt Padikkal was included in the starting XI after Sai Sudharsan was ruled out of the series. The southpaw batter impressed everyone with his knock of 142 not out in the warm-up game ahead of the Galle Test.

Meanwhile, in the first innings of the series opener, the batter reached his fifty off 81 balls before completing his ton off 134 deliveries. On day two, the batter managed to go past 150 before he was stumped off Prabath Jayasuriya’s bowling.

On Tuesday, the batter came out and did well to score 44 runs as the Indian team were bowled out for just 193 in the second innings. The visitors set a target of 372 for the hosts. Devdutt scored his runs off 75 balls with six hits to the fence.