Devdutt Padikkal on Wednesday became the first Indian player to play international cricket in the 2000s. A Covid-19 scare in the Indian squad ahead of the second T20 International against Sri Lanka paved the way for several new players to make it to the playing XI.
Making his debut during the second T20I of the three-match series against Sri Lanka, Devdutt scored 29 off 23. More than the 21-year-old was expected in the third T20I as India were aiming for a win in the game and series. .
Batting first on Thursday, India got off to a poor start. The team lost its captain Shikhar Dhawan to a golden duck. Thus, the responsibility of leading India’s innings fell on the young shoulders of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Padikkal.
However, Padikkal’s pressure kept getting better and he was dismissed twice in two different ways off the same ball. Padikkal sweeps the last ball of the fourth over from Ramesh Mendis. However, the left-hander failed to execute his plan and missed the ball completely. As soon as the ball hit the batsman’s pad, Sri Lanka appealed for lbw.
Meanwhile, Padikkal decided to go for a non-existent run after the ball rolled towards the square leg area. However, his Ruturaj decided against the run and Padikkal had to back down. However, before he could speak, Minod Bhanuka pulled out the bails.
Meanwhile, umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised his finger to lbw Padikkal. In this way the 21-year-old lost his wicket twice in the same ball and returned to the dug-out scoring just 9 runs out of 15.
As far as the match is concerned, India were reduced to 81 runs in 20 overs. Sri Lanka easily chased down the target in 14.3 overs by seven wickets and went on to win the T20I series 2–1.
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