Although everyone expected to see Devdutt Padikkal playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore tonight in the first match of IPL 2021, Kohli announced the playing XI without Padikkal. Padikkal’s name was included in almost all predictions and nobody speculated him to miss the tournament opener. Keep reading to find out why Devdutt Padikkal is not Playing Today.
Here is why Devdutt Padikkal not playing today against MI
Devdutt Padikkal was the highest run-scorer for Royal Challengers Bangalore last year. he ended the season with 476 runs in 16 IPL games at an average of 31.53 and with a strike rate above 124. On a debut campaign, not all can manage to shine in this league amid such massive stars. He gave a sense of dependency and solidity at the top for RCB. When Virat Kohli decided to play as an opener for RCB this time, RCB fans got relief imagining the solid pair of Kohli and Padikkal. The Karnataka batsman continued his good show in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and the Vijay Hazare tournaments as well.
However, the 20-year-old was tested positive for coronavirus on March 22 at home. He was in quarantining and following all the protocols. Before joining Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this week fortunately he was tested negative. He was reportedly in line with all the BCCI SOPs and expected to be in the playing XI of the side. But when Kohli disclosed the first XI for the match against Mumbai, it was surprising for many as Padikkal was not included to the combination.
Reportedly Padikkal was not included for the health concerns. The team did not want to rush since he just recovered from the Covid-19. Rajat Patidar, the debutant will be opening the RCB innings with Kohli. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and decided to field first.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Rajat Patidar, 3 AB de Villiers (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Daniel Christian, 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Kyle Jamieson, 8 Shahbaz Ahmed 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
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