It is said that even before Devdutt Padikkal was born, his parents had decided that their second child would become a cricketer. That wish came true. Padikkal went on to play for Karnataka and in the IPL, alongside collecting his Test cap in Dharamsala. So, what next? Can he represent India for a longer period of time? Going by how Padikkal played in the ongoing unofficial Test against Australia A in Mackay, the signs are good.
With India A precariously placed at 30 for 2 in the second dig, and still in arrears, he and Sai Sudharsan strung together an invaluable stand of 196 to bring their side right back into the game. Any hint of width while facing the pacemen, Padikkal brandished his cut strokes. He also took a toll on Todd Murphy, the mainstay of the opposition. When it felt as if Padikkal was about to edge one to the slip cordon, he brought his soft hands into play.
There was something else to observe – Padikkal seemed to have blended his elegant stroke-play with a small trigger. In the past, there has been enough criticism of how Padikkal has little or non-existent footwork. So much so that during one of LSG’s practice sessions, the head coach Justin Langer advised the young cricketer to get his head more into the ball.
There was one more issue that seemed to be bothering Padikkal in first-class cricket – his tendency to not convert fifties into hundreds. The 2023-24 first-class season, however, has turned out to be a watershed one in his career, as he cracked three tons for his state. He also notched up a hundred for India A in the unofficial Tests against England Lions. The selectors had certainly zoomed in on the young batter and he was soon wearing the white flannels against England.
Unfortunately, Padikkal couldn’t add to his list of first-class hundreds in Mackay, but Sudharsan, his batting partner, crossed the three-figure-mark, ending up with 103. The hallmark of Sudharsan’s promising first-class career has been his temperament to bat for long periods. In an era where modern-day batters are ready to play a volley of shots, he is an anomaly. In the first-class arena, Sudharsan has already made a name for himself for scoring ‘tough’ runs.
We saw enough evidence of Sudharsan’s powers of concentration in the Duleep Trophy game between India A and India C. As India A’s bowlers looked to post a memorable victory, Sudharsan calmly went about his job of salvaging a draw and compiled a superlative century. Ultimately, it took a fine short ball from Prasidh Krishna to dislodge the left-hand batter. In that innings, there was only one other batter from India C who crossed the 20-run mark.
That is a brief look at the micro-level about the batting abilities of the two left-hand batters. But can the duo establish themselves in the Indian Test side? It is true that India are going through a transition phase. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, two of the stalwarts of Indian cricket, are at the back end of their impressive careers. In that backdrop, the selectors seem to have earmarked the left-hand duo from the two southern states of India as future Test batters.
Both have immense potential. Now, it is perhaps a case of when rather than if the pair would get a long run in the longest format of the game. If India’s tour of Australia doesn’t go according to plan, then that elevation could come sooner rather than later.