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Devdutt Padikkal shows unique after-effect of fielding for over 240 overs in 2nd Test vs Sri Lanka
Devdutt Padikkal and India were made to field for more than three days of the second Test by Sri Lanka, in addition to him batting for most of the first day for his second century of the series.
Devdutt Padikkal was on the field for a majority of the 2nd Test. (Devdutt Padikkal Instagram/BCCI)
India had to be on the field for more than three days in their drawn second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo and Devdutt Padikkal has showcased a rather unique side effect of the effort. Padikkal, who himself had been out for nearly four full days of the Test, having scored a century on Day 1, put a pic of his bare back on Instagram, on which his skin can be seen tanned lighter on the parts where his jersey had his name and shirt number.
Effectively, he inadvertently ended up getting “Dev” and “37” temporarily tattooed on his back. “Really grateful for the opportunity and hungry for more. Lots of learnings from a hard fought series. Onto the next challenge… P.S- The sun gave me a tattoo on the last slide,” Padikkal said in his caption to the post on Instagram.
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Padikkal scored 117 in 193 balls, his second century of the two-Test series, and was dismissed about eight overs before the end of the first day’s play. India declared on 503/9 in the third session of Day 2, after which it was Sri Lanka who batted all the way to the end of the Test. The hosts were all out for 290 and were forced to follow-on by India.
However, Sri Lanka put up a remarkable resistance in their second innings, first through Pasindu Sooriyabandara and Kamindu Mendis’s 87-run stand forthe fourth wicket on Day 4 and then through Sonal Dinusha on Day 5. Dinusha scored his second century of the match and third of the series and saw Sri Lanka to safety.
While India won the series 1-0, the draw in the second Test hurt their chances of making it to the World Test Championship final. Captain Shubman Gill defended his decision to enforce the follow-on. “I won’t say that the follow-on backfired. We fielded for about 250 overs. They bowled around 130 overs. Around 70 overs were lost because of rain,” Gill told reporters after Day 5 on Thursday.
“We were also anticipating whether Days 4 and 5 would be possible or not. We wanted to take that chance. Either we bat one or one-and-a-half sessions on Day 4, make 200 runs, give them a target of around 400, or give them the follow-on and then score another 100 runs or whatever.”
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