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‘It Was a Tough Night’s Sleep’: Devdutt Padikkal Shares His Struggles Ahead of His Test Debut in Dharamshala
Youngster Devdutt Padikkal opened up on how he felt before he went out to make his Test debut in Dharamshala on Friday.
Youngster Devdutt Padikkal, who received his Test debut cap on the opening day of the Dharamshala Test on Thursday, finally got a chance to open his account during the second session of the second day, after the departure of centurion Rohit Sharma.
Padikkal held his nerve throughout the knock and smashed a brilliant half-century while strengthening the partnership with Sarfaraz Khan. The Rajasthan Royals batter was hinted at his possible debut on the eve of the Dharamshala Test after Rajat Patidar suffered a blow in the nets, rendering him unfit for the final game of the five-match series.
However, the possibility of making his Test debut had Padikkal all worked up and also disrupted his sleep. "I think regardless of when you get to know, there're always thoughts in your head, there's always going to be nervousness around it. So that was still there. I got a message saying there could be a possibility I could be playing on the previous night itself. I was nervous from that time. It was a tough night's sleep," said the debutant after his outing in Dharamshala.
"But that's how it is. It is something you also enjoy at the same time, you want to live for those days, so I am really happy," he added.
After having to battle his nerves at the start of his knock, Padikkal finally gained control over them and played a powerful innings with 10 fours coming off his bat. Speaking about his knock, the youngster said, "Every boundary was very enjoyable, even the edges. Probably the first edge that I got, which went behind for a four, that was probably the most enjoyable to be honest because those were my first runs."
He made his way into India's squad for the final game after KL Rahul failed to recover from his injury. The young star had also struggled with his fitness as a COVID-19 infection and a stomach-related condition added to his challenges.
"I've always believed in discipline being the key to success in everything that you do. Whether that's your practice or day-to-day habits, or food. I've always tried to be disciplined whenever possible. That's been my main goal. During the sickness, I couldn't do as much but I still wanted to make sure that I wasn't lagging behind in other areas and continued to work, whether that's mentally or any small way to improve myself," he said.
Elaborating further on how he missed the game while being out of action, Padikkal added, "Technically there were a couple of small things, nothing too major. But mostly mentally I feel I just wanted to make sure that I enjoyed the game a lot more, because the last couple of years not being able to play that often and missing out on a lot of games made me realise how much I miss the sport, how much I wanted to just be in the action playing cricket and doing things that I used to love as a kid. So that's something I wanted to focus on, just having fun and enjoying the sport."
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