NEW DELHI, Mar 7
Devdutt Padikkal is making his Test debut in the fifth and final Test in Dharamsala. The southpaw has replaced injured Rajat Patidar, who caught up an injury on the eve of the fifth Test.
“Bumrah (Jasprit) is back and he will replace Akash Deep. Devdutt Padikkal is making his debut and he will replace Rajat (Patidar), who picked up an injury last evening,” Rohit Sharma said at the toss.
The Karnataka batter was called up after as a replacement for his state team-mate KL Rahul, who was ruled out after the second Test due to quadricep injury.
A health issue meant he was in and out of hospital for months in 2022. He lost a few kilos and eventually struggled in the middle. In last year’s IPL, he could hardly make a telling contribution before Rajasthan Royals traded him to Lucknow Super Giants. But since then a lot of water seems to have gone under the bridge.
Padikkal has had an exceptional Ranji Trophy season and he has been rewarded for his consistency.
The 23-year-old left-hand batter, has so far aggregated 556 runs in six innings at an average of 92.66 this Ranji season. He has scored three centuries, with a highest of 193 in the season opener against Punjab. Padikkal caught selectors attention when he scored 151 against Tamil Nadu at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar from the stands, the left-handed batter notched up his third Ranji Trophy century.
Prior to his most-recent Ranji outing, he has impressed with scores of 65, 21 and 105 for India A against the touring England Lions in Ahmedabad. The consistency that was missing in his game in the last couple of seasons is very much back. India vs England, Selection puzzle for Team India ahead of Rajkot TestDevdutt Padikkal has replaced KL Rahul in the squad Padikkal has solid first-class credentials, having averaged 44.54 across 31 matches.
He has played two T20Is for India, both of which came against Sri Lanka in July 2021. He has had a great Vijay Jazare Trophy as well where he scored 465 runs in 5 innings.
The change in approach
Behind the unprecedented emergence of Padikkal, there is a unique training programme designed by some of the best cricketing brains who have been associated with the Rajasthan Royals, from Shane Warne and Rahul Dravid in the past to Kumar Sangakkara and Zubin Bharucha now.
“Devdutt was the guy, who just used to play 15-20 minutes, that was his philosophy. He started batting for two or three hours, started working on the various aspects of his game. You can see the difference in his performance in the domestic cricket,” Bharucha has told media.
Bharucha gives a glimpse into the training model which has helped the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel and now Devdutt Padikkal was picked for India ‘A’, and eventually India.
“In a general practice session in cricket, you will see two fast bowlers, four spinners, that’s pretty much it. In one round a batter will play six balls max. For us, one round for the batsman is close to 15 deliveries,” he says. From 14 yards, instead of 22, four players will throw the ball towards the batsman. Each of them serves a role and has been named cut, pull, flick and drive. Right behind these four ‘bowlers’ are another four who throw using a sidearm action. They are followed by four spinners and finally, four fast bowlers.
“That constitutes one round,” Bharucha says. “When Dhruv Jurel came to Talegaon to practice before he went to play the Test match, he faced 140 overs in four-and-a-half hours. That’s the training model we have set, be it Dhruv, Jaiswal, Sanju (Samson), Riyan (Parag) or Devdutt (Paddikkal), who we traded this year to Lucknow Super Giants.”
Middle-order batsman Rajat Patidar, whose place in the side was under intense scrutiny, was struggling to negotiate Akash Deep’s spell on the eve of the Test. He would edge, lose his stumps and get beaten outside off the stump. Coach Rahul Dravid would pat Akash Deep’s back and with a smile, send him back on the top of his run. And as Patidar stamped the dislodged stumps back its position with his bat, Devdutt Padikkal, all padded up, stood waiting for his turn at the nets. That one frame captured their selection dilemma for the team management. Though the word from the dressing room was that Patidar will get the game but his iffy morning session with the bat might give the team management second thoughts.
“Rajat Patidar got hit on his left ankle during a practice session on March 6, 2024. He pulled up sore on the morning of the game and was not available for selection.”
