Galle (Sri Lanka): Devdutt Padikkal celebrated India’s 80th Independence Day by scoring his maiden Test century, in the first of a two-match series against Sri Lanka at Galle on Saturday.
The tall left-hander, playing in his third Test, stroked a stylish unbeaten 134 to guide India to 288 for 2 at stumps on Day 1.
Padikkal, who may not have found a place in the playing XI had Sai Sudharsan not been injured, grabbed his chance with both hands on this special day for.
Some fans hailed Padikkal as the first Indian cricketer to score a century on I-Day, but it’s not entirely correct.
While the Karnataka batter is the first to hit a Test hundred on this auspicious day, it was his Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate Virat Kohli who achieved the feat of an international hundred on August 15.
Back in 2019, the then-captain of India anchored a tricky chase run chase to help the men in blue beat the West Indies in the third ODI with an unbeaten 114 at Port of Spain.
The match was played on August 14 technically, going by local time in Trinidad. But by the time Kohli got into his stride in the rain-truncated ODI, India had woken up to its Independence Day.
Kohli happens to be the only Indian cricketer to have scored centuries on both Independence Day and Republic Day. He had scored 116 in the fourth Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval on January 26, 2012 — like Padikkal, his first Test century.