Indian batsman Devdutt Padikkal has been one of the finest young players to have established himself as a dependable opener for his side, in recent times. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter played some terrific knocks in recent times in IPL.
Padikkal has played 29 matches in IPL so far and has scored 884 runs at an average of 31.57. His strike rate has also been pretty impressive (125.03).
While talking about his debut match in IPL, the southpaw revealed that he was not “expecting it.”
Padikkal speaks
“Simon actually came out and told me that you’ll be playing the first game. I wasn’t expecting it to be honest, I thought they might bench me a couple of games before they gave me a spot in the squad. The fact that they immediately put in from the first game gave me so much confidence. They have that trust and belief in me that I can straightaway get into the team and start performing. All you need is confidence from the management and coaches,” he said during a RCB podcast.
"The fact that they immediately put me in from the first game gave me so much confidence. They have that trust and belief in me that I can straightaway get into the team and start performing. All you need is confidence from the management and coaches," he added.
Batting with Virat Kohli
The 21-year-old batter turned out to be the highest run scorer for the RCB franchise in the 2020 edition of IPL. The IPL 2022 auction will take place onf February 12 and 13, in Bengaluru. Padikkal was eventually released by RCB ahead of the upcoming mega auctions. While talking about former RCB skipper Virat Kohli, the youngster explained that things got “easier” for him when he used to bat along with Virat.
“For me batting with Virat is very easy because all the attention is on him. As you know, all the attention is on him. I just feel like the pressure is off me completely because there is so much planning and thinking going on behind, how to bowl to him and the things you need to do to him. So there’s not much attention being paid to me when I’m batting out there. So like when I’m with him, it just makes my job easier. He’s such an incredible batsman and has so much experience and knowledge of the game,” Padikkal explained.
