Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener Devdutt Padikkal finally showed his true potential after few ordinary outings in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2022 season. Padikkal scored his maiden hundred in First-Class format in the Elite Group C clash against Puducherry.
The southpaw remained unbeaten for 161 and helped Karnataka post 293/3 at the end of Day 1's play at Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering Ground, Chennai.
Sent in to bat by Puducherry skipper Damodaren Rohit, Karnataka lost early wickets. First-change bowler Ashith Rajiv got rid of opener Ravikumar Samarth (11) and veteran Karun Nair (6) in his first spell.
From 39/2 in the first session, Padikkal steadied the ship with no.4 batter Krishnamurthy Siddharth. The two shared a 223-run partnership for the third wicket.
Siddharth scored 85 runs from 168 deliveries including 20 fours and two sixes. The 29-year-old missed out on scoring his fourth century in the format as he fell victim to left-arm spinner Sagar Udeshi, who got his wicket just a couple overs before the new ball became available.
In the last session, Karnataka skipper ensured Puducherry bowlers don't get more wickets with the new ball. Pandey remained unbeaten for 21 off 33 deliveries including one six. On Day 2, Padikkal will have a chance to convert his maiden hundred into double hundred. For Puducherry, Udeshi turned out to be the most expensive bowler despite the major breakthrough of Siddharth. He conceded 102 runs from 31 overs he bowled.
Performances in Ranji so far
Before scoring a century, he registered scores of 21 and 4 against Railways. In the second game, he got out for another single-digit score. He followed it up with a good start but missed his half-century by just one run.
Big bucks in IPL
Last month, the left-handed opener was picked by Rajasthan Royals (RR) for a whopping Rs 7.75 crore in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction. Padikkal’s services were roped in by the winners of inaugural season of IPL after a four-way bidding war with Mumbai Indians (MI), defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and his former franchise RCB. The Bangalore-based franchise had a chance to retain their second-highest run-scorer of the previous season. The 21-year-old scored 411 runs from 14 games at an average of 31.61 including one century and one half-century.
