Courtesy: BCCI
On Thursday, November 21, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that Devdutt Padikkal is included in the Indian squad for the upcoming five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test series against Australia down under. The Indian cricket team released a video on Instagram of Devdutt Padikkal talking about his experience and excitement of training with the teammates at the Optus Stadium in Perth ahead of the first Test match, which will begin in just a day’s time.
Notably, Devdutt Padikkal has already made his debut for India in Test cricket earlier this year against England at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamshala. On this very occasion, he scored an enterprising fifty against a decent England attack, getting 65 runs in 103 balls with 10 fours and one maximum before Shoaib Bashir picked up his wicket.
I am glad that I am getting this opportunity and hoping to make it count: Devdutt Padikkal
After being included in the Indian squad for the BGT, Devdutt Padikkal was quite happy to be a part of the group ahead of the first Test. He remarked, “It’s always been a pleasure to have training sessions with the Indian side because it feels as big as the match. So hopefully we can translate it to the game. Coming into the A tour, somewhere in the back of my mind I was hoping that I could do well enough to stay back. I am glad that I am getting this opportunity and hoping to make it count.”
During the recently concluded India A unofficial Test series against Australia A down under, Devdutt Padikkal was quite impressive with the bat, scoring 151 runs in four innings at an average of 37.75. His innings of 88 runs when India A were firmly behind the eight ball versus Australia A in McKay in the second innings, might have played a massive role in persuading the Indian selectors to pick him in the squad for the BGT, with the absence of captain Rohit Sharma for the first Test.
