Devdutt Padikkal’s 167, 44 leave him with 211 in India’s first Test at Galle

Devdutt Padikkal scored 167 in the first innings and 44 in the second, finishing with 211 for India in the first Test of the 2026 tour of Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium.

His 167 was Padikkal’s maiden Test century, reached on Day 1 of the match, a day the report notes as marking the 80th year of India’s independence; the article also records that Virat Kohli holds the ODI-century-on-Independence-Day mark from 2019 against the West Indies.

Padikkal was included in India’s squad on the back of a dominant domestic run but was originally a backup for Sai Sudharsan at No. 3 and only featured after Sudharsan was ruled out due to injury.

The 167 places Padikkal among the Indian batters who have scored more than 150 in a single Test innings against Sri Lanka, joining names cited in the report such as Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara.

Across both innings Padikkal’s 211 leaves him four runs short of Rahul Dravid’s 215 against Sri Lanka in 2009, making Padikkal’s match total the second-highest game aggregate for a player batting at No. 3 for India versus Sri Lanka.

According to the article, Padikkal joins Sourav Ganguly as Indian left-handed batters to score a Test century while batting at No. 3 in the 21st century; Ganguly’s century at No. 3 came in 2002 against Pakistan. The 167 is also described as the highest individual score by an Indian left-handed batter at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.

The report identifies Padikkal as the fourth Indian batter to register a maiden Test century on Sri Lankan soil and states his 167 is the second-highest score by an Indian maiden centurion in Sri Lanka, behind Vinod Kambli, who scored his maiden Test hundred in Sri Lanka before converting it into a massive double-hundred; the article also notes Kambli was the first Indian to score a maiden Test century on Sri Lankan soil.

Padikkal made his Test debut against England on 7th March 2024; the records and comparisons listed in the piece were produced during India’s first Test of the 2026 tour of Sri Lanka at Galle.