Archive · 15 Aug 2026
Padikkal's century answers India's No. 3 question at Galle
Cricket is a game where teams score runs.
In Test cricket, batting at number three is a very important job.
India had tried eleven different players in that spot without success.
No Indian batsman had scored a hundred runs from that position in three years.
Devdutt Padikkal is a left-handed cricketer who has always dreamed of playing Test cricket.
He got his chance because the first-choice batsman, B Sai Sudharsan, could not play the series.
On Saturday, Padikkal scored a century at Galle.
He mixed careful defense with bold shots.
His teammates were relieved because India may have finally found a long-term number three.
Devdutt Padikkal scored a century batting at No. 3 for India against Sri Lanka at Galle.
His hundred, reached on the 134th delivery he faced, was India's first century from No. 3 in three years.
India have tried 11 different batsmen at No. 3 since Cheteshwar Pujara vacated the spot in June 2023.
Padikkal got the opportunity because first-choice batsman B Sai Sudharsan was missing the series.
The 26-year-old left-hander averages 43.18 in first-class cricket for Karnataka and India A.
- Who
- Devdutt Padikkal, the 26-year-old Indian left-handed batsman, along with the Indian and Sri Lankan Test teams.
- What
- Padikkal scored a century batting at No. 3, the first by an Indian batsman from that position in three years, leading India's batting after Yashasvi Jaiswal's dismissal.
- When
- On Saturday, during the Test series at Galle (the article gives no exact date).
- Where
- Galle, Sri Lanka.
- Why
- He got the chance because first-choice batsman B Sai Sudharsan missed the series, and India had been searching for a long-term No. 3 since Cheteshwar Pujara left the spot in June 2023.
- Player
- Devdutt Padikkal (India, left-handed batsman)
- Batting position
- No. 3
- Milestone
- First century by an Indian from No. 3 in three years
- Century reached
- On the 134th delivery faced
- First-class batting average
- 43.18
- No. 3 options tried by India since Pujara
- 11
- Missing first-choice batsman
- B Sai Sudharsan
- Venue
- Galle, Sri Lanka