Shubman Gill was almost glad someone asked him about India's preparation time for the tour of Sri Lanka. "If we do have an opportunity and if the scheduling allows us to have at least a week or 10 days before the Test match starts, it obviously helps with the preparation," he beamed one day out from the Galle Test. India had arrived 11 days before the start of the series. Devdutt Padikkal became the walking endorsement of why that was an excellent decision. On Day 1 in Galle, he scored his maiden - and undefeated - Test century.

Padikkal spent last week tormenting the Sri Lankan bowlers for the SLC XI in a warm-up game where he scored 142* (164). Between that game and today, the Sri Lankan bowlers haven't dismissed him for 342 deliveries, and counting. But early sighters of Day 1 were very different. It felt like Padikkal would have to wait a long time for his turn. The overheads were calm and sunny to start off, kites flew nearby and people gathered on the edge of the Galle Fort to get a glimpse of the cricket. On the grass banks at the venue, a small crowd settled in. But conditions in the middle were largely benign. There was turn, but not enough to ruffle feathers.KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal got comfortable in the first hour. Padikkal had to then be summoned because of an unexpected run out where Jaiswal stumbled after colliding with the bowler and was stranded at the same end as Rahul.

India have had a revolving door at No.3: seven batters have played there since the WTC final of 2023, including Padikkal, whose two Test appearances came back in 2024. More recently, he's carried drinks and played understudy to Sai Sudharsan, who himself hasn't set the world alight from the important batting spot. When Padikkal walked out around the drinks break in the morning session, none of that weighed him down. He didn't need time to let the occasion sink in. Keshara Nuwantha offered a slightly short delivery first up and Padikkal pulled it through mid-wicket for a first-ball four. In the very next over, he stepped out to hit Prabath Jayasuriya for a straight six. Thisattitude defined the rest of his innings where runs were proactively taken when the bowlers erred, which was often.

Of the 178 balls he faced, spinners delivered 138 of them. Within that, 125 were short and on a good length, in the hope that spin could pose questions to the left-hander from such spots. They didn't.Because Padikkal had come equipped with hours of training for precisely this: to play spin confidently from the back foot and switch it up by using his long reach to sweep the ball.

Pacers tried to rile him up by shifting angles - Lahiru Kumara kept alternating between round the stumps and over, without any success. Asitha Fernando then came close to stopping Padikkal in his tracks. After a long rain break that consumed an hour of the second session, Fernando steamed in and got some extra bounce to surprise the left-hander for a couple of deliveries. But that was that. Padikkal quickly recalibrated and got comfortable once again.

The overheads were constantly changing and the light had started to dim, but Padikkal remained switched on. After coming this far, he had no intention of letting his guard down and allowing a bowler to take advantage. Nuwantha nearly pulled it off. In the 57th over of the day, the off-spinner got a ball to turn sharply from middle stump and squared up Padikkal.

There were groans from the close-in fielders, perhaps sensing that they were finally getting close to dismissing him. But the very next ball, on a similar length, Padikkal put paid to such thoughts, rocking back and pulling it away. It didn't get him a boundary, but it showed there was no urge to let circumspection creep into his batting now. In the same over, Padikkal raised his Test hundred. By the end of the day he had 131* to his name - a knock acknowledged by every passing Sri Lankan player with a pat on the back and fist bump.

India went to Stumps at 288/2: A day defined by a century that carried more weight than just the runs scored. Padikkal's ton is the first from a No.3 batter for India since September 2024 - when Gill scored one against Bangladesh in Chennai.

Just this one innings, which still hasn’t ended, might not immediately resolve India’s dragged-out No.3 woe, but Padikkal’s knock is a statement: he’s done in Galle what Sai Sudharsan couldn’t in Delhi against West Indies and Mullanpur against Afghanistan, when presented with similar conditions and opportunities. That is unlikely to go unnoticed in the corridors of decision-making.