and vrooms into India’s selection for the third Test against England
In a Group C Ranji Trophy encounter against Tamil Nadu in Chennai, Devdutt Padikkal struck 151 from 218 balls in front of Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of selectors.
“Jangal mein mor nacha kisne dekha?” was a famous domestic coach’s question to all of his players before every big game. This adage in Hindi is well-known. Which roughly translates to: Does it really matter what you did in the woods? In terms of cricket, he meant that it doesn’t really matter how well players perform in league matches or against inferior opponents. Big games are when they have to perform because everyone is watching them—at least the people who matter). Devdutt Padikkal has fulfilled that exact role.
In an Elite Group C Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu in Chennai, the left-hander from Karnataka struck 151 off 218 balls in front of chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar. In the stands, the former Indian bowler was observing Padikkal’s feats against an attack that included Vijay Shankar, Sai Kishore, and Sandeep Warrier.
Padikkal had no idea that he would be called up by the Indian team a few days later when he hammered 12 fours and 6 sixes in his pivotal innings on February 9, which allowed Karnataka to post 366 and finally give them enough runs to get a 3 point lead on first innings.
K.L Rahul was ruled out of the third Test match against England, which is scheduled to start in Rajkot on Thursday. It will take a few more days for the right-hander to recover fully from his quadriceps injury, which kept him out of the second Test in Visakhapatnam. The fourth and fifth Tests in Ranchi and Dharamsala are probably when he will be available. India, however, required a backup for the third Test. Padikkal stepped in.
