IPL 2021: “He deserved to get the three-figure mark”, RCB captain Virat Kohli lauds Devdutt Padikkal
A memorable partnership between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli and young Devdutt Padikkal helped the team pulled off a comprehensive ten-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Thursday (April 22) in IPL 2021.
Virat Kohli, in a rare occurrence, played the second-fiddle to Devdutt Padikkal and scored an unbeaten 72 off 47 balls, while his partner went to make an outstanding century – 101 runs off 52 deliveries, his maiden IPL hundred – as RCB reached the 178-run target with ten wickets intact and more than three overs to spare.
Devdutt Padikkal dominated the RR bowling attack through the course of his knock, featuring 11 fours and 6 maximums, on what was another batting paradise of a track at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The 20-year-old left-hander was simply superb with his strokeplay on the night, smashing the RR bowlers to all parts of the iconic ground.
Devdutt Padikkal got to his fifty in just 27 balls and having accelerated thereafter, he reached the individual score of 91 off 47 balls. With just another 16 runs needed off 30 balls at that stage, an interesting conversation between the youngster and skipper Kohli came to light.
Devdutt Padikkal batted superbly for his maiden IPL century.
“He deserved to get the three-figure mark”, RCB captain Virat Kohli lauds Devdutt Padikkal
Kohli revealed at the post-match presentation that Devdutt Padikkal asked him to finish off the match at his end, whereas in response he told the left-hander to get to his century first. The captain realised that his young teammate will only gain in confidence from lifting his bat for a maiden IPL hundred.
“We (he and Devdutt Padikkal) spoke about it (on the 100). He told me to finish it off, I told him to get to it first. He said many will come, I said yea you can say that after you get to the landmark. He deserved to get the three-figure mark,” said Kohli.
“It was an outstanding innings. He batted really well for his first season last time. There was a lot of talk about him not accelerating after getting to 30s. He’s put all that to rest. It was a good pitch to bat on to be honest, and him being tall meant that bowlers struggled with their lengths.”
“T20 cricket is always about partnership cricket. You can’t always go big from the word go. When one guy is going well, it’s important for me to ensure that I don’t lose my wicket. It can change on other days,” the skipper added.
Devdutt Padikkal didn’t have the best of starts to the IPL 2021 as he entered late into the RCB bio-bubble and even missed their campaign opener due to testing COVID-19 positive before the tournament. However, the promising batter made amends in a stellar fashion against RR. Last year as well, Devdutt Padikkal was one of RCB’s bright spots, with 473 runs from 15 innings at an average of 31.53 and strike-rate of 124.80.
With four wins from four games under their belt, an improving Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) side will next take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday (April 25) in Mumbai.