Devdutt Padikkal broke onto the glamorous stage in the Dream11 IPL 2020 tournament held in the UAE. Despite being bought by RCB in the 2019 season, Padikkal got his first opportunity this season itself as it was almost impossible to leave the young opening batsman out of the team, owing to his brilliant performances in every format of the game while playing domestic cricket for his state of Karnataka in India. Padikkal had impressed highly in a star studded Karnataka batting lineup that included the likes of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair.
Devdutt went on to claim the Emerging Young Player award at the IPL 2020 season after putting in stellar performances for Bangalore at the top of the order. Padikkal scored 473 runs in 15 matches this season having five half-centuries to his name, making him the highest run-scorer for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2020, in a team that included Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Aaron Finch. Padikkal is one of the brightest young talents coming through who has been tipped for greatness in the long term future of the game and the youngster has opened up on how his RCB captain Virat Kohli has been mentoring and nurturing the Kerala born cricketer.
“There’s a long way to go for me and there’s so much I have to improve upon. It’s just the beginning. Virat Kohli helped me along the way in terms of how to build an innings. Virat Kohli asked me to continue to work hard and not let the success affect me. Keep pushing ahead and keep improving is what he told me,& that’s what I am going to do. It’s important one should continue to enjoy the game and not get caught in thoughts regarding policy and playing for the country because that’s going to happen when the time is right.”
After such impressive performances in IPL and in the domestic circuit, the national team call-up is not very far away for Devdutt and his sole focus should be on improving his game day by day.
