Indian opener undergoes thumb surgery, set to be sidelined for four weeks

Team India opening batter Devdutt Padikkal has been sidelined for three to four weeks after undergoing surgery on his left thumb. The left-handed batter, who has played two T20Is for the Men in Blue, suffered the injury during the recently-concluded 2023 Deodhar Trophy.

SportsTak

• Fri • 18 Aug 2023

Team India opening batter Devdutt Padikkal has been sidelined for three to four weeks after undergoing surgery on his left thumb. The left-handed batter, who has played two T20Is for the Men in Blue, suffered the injury during the recently-concluded 2023 Deodhar Trophy. As a result, the 23-year-old talented batter will not play for the Gulbarga Mystics in the ongoing Maharaja KSCA T20 trophy.

“I had a left-thumb fracture during the Deodhar Trophy. So, I had to undergo a minor surgery to get that fixed. I will be out of the game for probably another three to four weeks. Hopefully, I can be back on the field soon,” Padikkal told Fancode.

Earlier, Padikkal had revealed the news of his injury on Twitter.

"Just a quick update. Sustained a fracture on my left thumb and had to undergo surgery. The road to recovery begins now, and I can’t wait to get back out on the field soon," Padikkal said in a tweet on August 2.

After bursting onto the scene with outstanding performances for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Padikkal was selected for India's T20I squad that traveled to Sri Lanka in 2021. In two matches, the southpaw aggregated 38 runs at a strike rate of 100.

Padikkal played two seasons for RCB in the cash-rich tournament. In his debut campaign in 2020, the left-handed batter displayed his potential in an eye-catching manner while playing for a box-office franchise. He scored 473 runs in 15 matches with the help of five fifties. The left-handed batter scored runs at a strike rate of 124.80.

In his next season, Padikkal was impressive once again, scoring 411 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 125.30. He registered one half-century and his maiden ton in IPL during the 2021 season.

After playing two years with the RCB, Padikkal was bought by Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Karnataka lad has been associated with the franchise since then. In 2022, Padikkal scored 376 runs in 17 matches and was instrumental in the Royals reaching the final. In 2023, he scored 261 runs in 11 matches with the help of two half-centuries.

Overall, Padikkal has scored 1,521 runs in 57 matches in the cash-rich tournament at a strike rate of 125.39 and an average of 27.65. He has registered nine fifties and a century in IPL.