28 August,2026 04:07 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Devdutt Padikkal (Pic: File Pic)
The second Test match between Team India and Sri Lanka ended in a draw at the Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground in Colombo.
Team India's Devdutt Padikkal was named the "Player of the Series" for his batting heroics against the Sri Lankans.
Speaking after the series, the 26-year-old cricketer said that he was looking to prove that he is capable of scoring big runs. Padikkal is also hopeful of carrying this confidence forward in his international career.
"It feels great. Coming into the series, once I knew I was going to get that opportunity, I was looking forward to it that this was my chance to really prove something and make sure that I show everyone that I am capable of getting big runs. I have done that throughout my career in first-class cricket, and now I am really happy it showed in the Test arena as well. Hopefully, I can take the confidence I have got from this forward in my career," he said in a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
He also shared a picture of himself on his official social media handle. In the picture, Padikkal was seen with a tattoo on the back of his name and jersey number after spending hours every day under the weather conditions.
He was Team India's top run-getter with 328 runs in three innings at an average of 109.33, with two centuries and a best score of 117. Now in four Tests and six innings, he has made 418 runs at an average of 69.66, including two centuries and a fifty.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka's Sonal Dinusha scored an unbeaten knock of 133 runs off 264 deliveries. His knock was laced with eight boundaries and two maximums.
With this, he joined an elite list of cricketers who have scored three tons in two-match Test series. He is also the third Sri Lankan batsman to have achieved this feat.
The cricketers who have scored three centuries in two-match Test series are Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva, South Africa's Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, Pakistan's Younis Khan, Australia's Marnus Labuschagne and New Zealand's Kane Williamson.
Overall, Dinusha became the 12th batter to score hundreds in both innings of a Test against India. He is only the second batter since January 2015 to achieve the milestone against India after England's Jonny Bairstow, who scored 106 and an unbeaten 114 runs at Edgbaston in 2022.
Dinusha was also named the "Player of the match" for his two crucial match-saving centuries in the second Test match against Shubman Gill and his men at the Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground in Colombo.
(With ANI Inputs)
