Galle [Sri Lanka], August 19 (ANI): After a magnificent maiden Test ton against Sri Lanka at Galle in winning cause, Indian batter Devdutt Padikkal said that the wicket was "slowish" and helped the left-handed batters to deal with left-arm spinners better and the wicket started turning more after the third day.
In absence of an injured Sai Sudharsan, Padikkal played a statement knock, taking a massive leap towards sealing his spot in Test team at number three, scoring 167 and 44 in the Test. His maiden Test ton gave Team India a massive cushion of runs from which ultimately proved to be the difference all along, especially with fighting efforts from Niroshan Dickwella, Sonal Dinusha and Dhanajaya de Silva.
Speaking after the match in the post-match presentation, Padikkal spoke on playing his second Test at Perth and third at Galle, two very tough places to bat, "Yeah, it has been one of those things in my career. I started in Dharamshala (Test debut), then a Test in Perth, and now Galle. But I could not have asked for anything better. The game was amazing. I think we played some really good cricket and really happy with the win."
On the surface, he said, "Definitely, I think the wicket had its natural wear and tear. But I think it was a great Test match wicket. I think all five days it played pretty well. Definitely, it started to turn a lot more from the third day onwards. But I think at the end of the day, it was all about who came out better in terms of their skill sets, and I think we did that well. [Did left-handers enjoy this surface more?] Not really, but obviously it being very dominated by left-arm spinners bowling a lot, I think that contributes to that. Obviously, it was a bit of a slowish wicket. It wasn't providing that much bite off the wicket, so the left-handers were able to negotiate the left-arm spinners much better. I think that was the key," he added.
Coming to the match, India won and elected to bat first, knocks from Devdutt Padikkal (167 in 230 balls, with 15 fours and a six), KL Rahul (82 in 175 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and Dhruv Jurel (51 in 68 balls, with four boundaries and a six) helped them reach 462. Prabath Jayasuriya (4/109) and Keshara Nuwantha (3/175) were among the top bowlers in the first innings.
During SL's first innings, they had sunk to 90/5, before a 146-run stand between Niroshan Dickwella (80 in 115 balls, with seven fours) and Sonal Dinusha (100 in 168 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) pulled them out of trouble. Suthar's four-fer and overall exceptional spin bowling from India skittled them out for 284 in reply to India's first innings total of 462, trailing by 178 runs.
Sri Lanka's bowling was more clinical in the second innings with only Rishabh Pant (66 in 69 balls, with eight fours and two sixes), Devdutt Padikkal (44 in 75 balls, with six fours) and KL Rahul (35 in 47 balls, with two fours and two sixes) contributing something of note as India was all out for 193 runs, giving SL 372 runs to win. Asitha Fernando (4/31) and Prabath (3/43) were exceptional with the ball.
In the second innings, SL were down and out at 47/4, but Dhanajaya de Silva (59 in 151 balls, with seven fours) and Sonal Dinusha (84 in 128 balls, with eight fours and a six) gave them a glimmer of hope with a 91-run stand. After Dinusha fell as the seventh wicket, it was all over for SL as Suthar made SL's lower-order collapse like a pack of cards, bundling them out for 206 runs. SL lost the Test by 165 runs.
Prasidh Krishna (2/16 in 10 overs) bowled an exceptional spell of pace, while Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja also got a wicket each. India is 1-0 up in the two-match Test series. (ANI)
"Left-handed handers were able to negotiate left-arm spinners better": Centurion Padikkal after Galle Test win
