"First 15-20 minutes, you'll..." - Rahul Dravid's pep-talk to Devdutt Padikkal before debut Test innings revealed

The pep-talk given to Devdutt Padikkal before his Test debut in Dharamsala by the India National Cricket Team head coach Rahul Dravid has been revealed by the debutant himself.

Padikkal received his debut Test cap from the veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who is featuring in his 100th Test match for the country. Devdutt Padikkal was included in the India squad after KL Rahul was deemed unfit and he walked into playing XI as a replacement for Rajat Patidar, who wasn’t fit for the fifth Test.

Even though India got the opportunity to bat on Day 1 itself after bowling out England for a low score, Padikkal didn’t get the chance to bat. The 23-year-old left-handed had to wait for the entire first session on Day 2 before finally entering the field with his bat.

The batter didn’t look under any kind of pressure in his maiden outing for India in Tests and he was mostly untroubled. Padikkal looked confident while facing the spinners as well as pacers and he built his innings extremely well.

He took his time in the middle and smashed a beautiful six to complete his half-century off 83 balls. Devdutt Padikkal looked set for a big hundred, but it wasn’t meant to be as he was dismissed by Shoaib Bashir’s classy delivery. The left-handed batsman scored 65 runs off 103 balls, with 10 fours and 1 six before getting out.

Speaking after the end of the play on Day 2, the young batsman revealed that he was informed about the possibility of his debut on the eve of the match and he was quite nervous after that.

“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,” Padikkal said.

Rahul sir mentioned to me yesterday, ‘the first 15-20 minutes, you will have some nerves – Devdutt Padikkal

In a post-match interview with JioCinema, Padikkal revealed that India head coach Rahul Dravid calmed him down with his pep-talk.

“Rahul sir mentioned to me yesterday, ‘the first 15-20 minutes, you will have some nerves. Enjoy that, have fun with that, and just go on’. That stuck with me. I knew I was going to be nervous, but that was a nice challenge. That has definitely helped me,” Padikkal said.

Devdutt Padikkal further revealed that despite having a huge 255-run lead, India don’t have an eye on a 3-day Test match.

“We haven’t discussed and aren’t looking so far ahead. We still have two wickets in hand; there is a good partnership going on. So hopefully, we can continue to bat and keep getting those runs and lead bigger,” said the youngster.

Devdutt Padikkal was involved in a 97-run stand during his stay in the middle with Sarfaraz Khan in the Dharamsala Test and talking about his partnership with the Mumbai batter, Padikkal said:

“It’s always fun to bat with Sarfaraz. He’s a great character to have around. It was just some light stuff, it wasn’t anything too serious. We weren’t really discussing the game a lot. We just wanted to make sure that we made each other comfortable on the ground because you are two against 11. We were just looking to make each other comfortable and we enjoyed batting with each other,” Padikkal revealed.