Devdutt Padikkal, the 20-year-old opener set the tone for Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first IPL 2020 game. Padikkal smashed a dashing half-century on his IPL debut and showed what a genius he is.
Things to know about Devdutt Padikkal
1.) The Karnataka based batsman had parents supporting at home to pursue his dream of playing cricket. It was for their son that they decided to move to a suburb in Bangalore from Hyderabad to help Padikkal take serious cricket coaching. From the age of 11 Padikkal began serious cricket coaching with the dream of playing for India. In an interaction, his mother mentioned, “When we were planning for the second child, we were like if it is a boy… we’ll make him a cricketer.”
2.) Padikkal first came into limelight with his Karnataka Premier League 2017 performance when he scored a 53-ball 72 for Bellary Tuskers. Then he accumulated 829 runs in the Coach Behar Trophy next year and ended the tournament as the fourth-highest run-scorer. This paved his way for the Ranji Trophy debut. On debut match, he made seven and 77 against Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy in 2018. Slowly and gradually Padikkal started to make it to the headlines.
3.) But it was two big domestic tournaments last season that truly made him a domestic giant. his run fiesta in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He scored 609 runs at an average of 67.66. The carnival continued in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy too where he amassed 580 runs with an astonishing strike rate of 175.75. In 2019 he was signed by the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
4.) Padikkal has a unique record to his name. He has scored a half-century in all his debut matches. After Ranji debut, he made a 58 against Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament in 2019. Then came a 53 against Uttarakhand in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Interestingly, the tradition continued even in the Indian Premier League after his 56 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
5.) With his IPL half-century, Devdutt Padikkal became the first Indian in ten years to score a 50 on IPL debut. The last Indian before him to do was Kedar Jadhav in 2010. He is also only eight Indian batsmen to do so. Overall, the last player to score a fifty on IPL debut was Sam Billings in 2016 for Delhi Capitals (then Daredevils).
Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricadium on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
