Devdutt Padikkal had a smashing tour of Sri Lanka, scoring a century in each of the two Tests, and with a blockbuster Test season ahead featuring the Border-GavaskarTrophy at home, the left-hander is keen to cement his position at number three. Speaking to JioStar, Padikkal shared his thoughts on grabbing his opportunity with both hands, his conversations with Rahul Dravid about red-ball preparation, and whether he feelshe has sealed his place in the side.
Speaking to JioStar, Devdutt Padikkal opened up about his Test comeback and grabbing the opportunity with both hands: “Definitely, I was looking forward toit. Obviously, those opportunities don’t come very easily. It takes a lot of hard work to make sure that you are continuing to improve yourself and waiting for that opportunity. I had to make sure that I was ready whenever I got it. The fact that I was toldat the start of the series that I was going to be playing was really exciting, and I felt like, personally, I was at the best stage of my career in terms of the way I was batting, so I was really looking forward to it.”
On batting at number three and following in the shoes of the likes of Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara: “At the end of the day, it’s about going out thereand batting. It doesn’t matter what position I’m batting at, I’m trying to contribute to the side. Yes, obviously, there have been great players who have played at number three for India over the years, and I’m sure there’ll be a lot more scrutiny on me anda lot more comparisons made. But at the end of the day, I’m going out there and just playing my cricket, and as long as I’m enjoying that, I think everything will fall into place.”
On conversations with Rahul Dravid about Test batting: “Obviously, I’ve had a lot of conversations with him over the years in terms of batting and what ittakes to really spend long hours out there. Again, it comes back to preparation and understanding what you want to do. As long as you have that clarity in your head about what your plans are and what you want to go out there and do, regardless of the positionyou’re batting at, it helps a lot. I think those are the conversations I’ve had with him.”
On cementing his place in the Test side ahead of a bumper home Test season: “As long as I’m scoring runs, I think it always benefits the side. Test cricketis not the easiest format, as we all know, so you have to keep performing day in and day out. You get limited opportunities these days, and it’s not very easy to cement a place in a side. Nothing is taken for granted. For me, personally, I just want to keepscoring runs and keep contributing to wins for the Indian Test side. As long as I’m doing that, I’m sure I’ll have my place.”
Watch Devdutt Padikkal Interview exclusively on Star Sports YouTube Channel.
Video link: https://youtu.be/VwZWDrzKVBM?si=_xM_atGdqmghGR-l
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