Kookaburra balls, Lankan pitches in Bengaluru: Inside Devdutt Padikkal's SL tour prep

Devdutt Padikkal last played a Test for India in 2024 during the tour of Australia. Since then, the Indian team has been on the look out for someone to take up the No.3 role and make it their own. Sai Sudharsan has been the man who was given the long rope, with Karun Nair and even Washington Sundar also being used.

Padikkal wasn’t affected by the snubs and went back to work on the domestic circuit, scoring runs for fun. The southpaw scored 543 runs at an average of 60.33 in six matches during the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 season as Karnataka finished as runners-up. This was followed by 725 runs in nine Vijay Hazare Trophy games and another title-winning campaign for RCB, scoring 464 runs in 16 matches.

IND vs SL XI, Day 2 Highlights

All this led to a call-up for the Afghanistan Test, but India decided to use Sudharsan instead. Now, with the Tamil Nadu batter ruled out of the Sri Lanka series with an injury, the door was opened for Padikkal. But he needed to produce a sensational knock to lock himself in.

He did just that during the warm-up game against SLC XI, remaining unbeaten on 142 runs off 164 balls, with India trailing by just six runs at stumps on Day 2.

But the work for this remontada was laid back home even before he boarded the flight to Colombo.

DEVISING THE PERFECT PLAN FOR SRI LANKA

Padikkal decided to go back to his roots and work with his childhood coach Mohammad Naseeruddin. The duo came up with the perfect plan to counter the conditions in Sri Lanka where spin is often the king and it proves to be minefield for batters.

“Devdutt approached me after the KSCA Maharaja Trophy T20, where he played only one match because of his India A duties, and wanted to start training with red balls before going to Sri Lanka,” Naseeruddin told PTI.

Padikkal made a strong impression against Sri Lanka A, registering scores of 67 and 94. However, the left-hander was keen to use the opportunity to fine-tune his preparations and address any gaps before the Test series.

The first step was to use Kookaburra balls for training as they were the ones being used in Sri Lanka for the series.

“It did not matter to him at that time whether he got a place in the eleven or not. He wanted to prepare in the best possible way and be ready if a chance comes his way. So, we started training with normal red balls.”

“But then we came up with the idea of using Kookaburra balls in training because they are used in Sri Lanka for Tests. So, he bought those balls and we started practising with them,” said Naseeruddin.

But this was just one part of the problem. The other was tackling the Sri Lankan spinners, who have been a nightmare for batters in the recent past.

For this, Padikkal and Naseeruddin created Lankan pitches back home in Bengaluru and brought in left-arm spinners and off-spinners of various heights and batted against them for close to three hours.

“We arranged different pitches for our training because he will face more spin there. Apart from pitch that offers turn, we also arranged for different kinds of spinners during our sessions.

“We bought in left-arm and off-spinners of various heights and he batted against them for nearly three hours every day. He did not want to leave anything for chance before travelling to Lanka,” he noted.

A few tweaks were also made to the batting technique of Padikkal by Naseeruddin, which has worked wonders.

“He always had technique and patience to succeed at the Test level, in fact, in all formats. After his last Test against Australia (at Perth in November 2024), he worked on his stance, staying a bit more low, and playing closer to the ball and the results are there for everyone to see,” said Naseeruddin.

NO FRUSTRATION, JUST PATIENCE

During his time away from wearing India whites, Padikkal showed no frustration, according to coach Naseeruddin. In fact, he took the time to mature as a cricketer with the captaincy of Karnataka also helping him in a big way.

“Not at all. As I said he is a patient boy, who is keen to work hard on his game. He clearly knew what areas he needed to work on after that tour to Australia and he did that. You can see the difference now,” said Naseeruddin.

“He is a more mature cricketer and person now. The captaincy of Karnataka also has done wonders for him because he is now even better at decision making.

“I had asked him whether he was under any pressure because of captaincy. But he said he’s enjoying that responsibility. No burden at all.

“He makes sure to keep all the pressures and expectations outside the field and focus on his job at hand.”

With India looking for consistency at No.3 and make sure they get their World Test Championship hunt back on track, the reinvented Padikkal could be the answer.

– Ends