Devdutt Padikkal's meticulous planning leads to India's ascendancy in Galle

Devdutt Padikkal's maiden international ton has put India in ascendancy in the ongoing first Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka in Galle. Padikkal batted for hours at a stretch, being proactive against the spin attack of the hosts. He was nimble with his footwork, rocking back to muscle anything marginally short and dancing down the track to balls pitched in and around the good length channel.

His game plan was to take the attack to the hosts, forcing them to tinker with their length and not letting them settle in any kind of rhythm. He said that proactiveness has been discussed at length in the dressing room and it makes run-scoring fairly easy.

"Yeah, I think we [the India team] have discussed that at length," Padikkal was quoted as saying by Cricinfo. "Especially when you're playing spin, it's important that you have certain plans in your head. You cannot go out there and expect to react [to the ball] all the time. It's important that you have a couple of shots in your head that you want to play as soon as you go out there, so that you can put some pressure on the bowler as well.

"So I think over the last year or so, we have really worked on trying to find ways [within] our own strengths that we can really implement to make sure that we put pressure back [on the bowlers]."

The southpaw has benefitted from his grind in the Ranji Trophy and has returned as a much-improved red-ball player. He aggregated 543 runs in six matches of the previous season, averaging 60.33 with the help of two centuries.

Padikkal also said that his experience playing for Karnataka and learning from teammates has turned him into a more mature cricketer.

"I think, honestly, it's just the hunger to [score] more runs," Padikkal said at the close of play in an interview with the host broadcaster. "I just enjoy batting out there and the moment you get to hundred, it's easy to relax and feel that relief. But for me, the next 20-30 balls are a really important phase that I try and make sure that I'm completely focused, completely there.

"I think when I get past those first ten balls after [getting to my] hundred, I think it makes my job a whole lot easier. And over the years, I've seen so many cricketers get big runs, get big hundreds, especially back in Karnataka, so just watching them bat makes me want to do the same."