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Devdutt Padikkal made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Monday (September 21).
Padikkal impressed one and all on his IPL debut as he smashed SRH bowlers to all corners of the ground. A lot of cricket experts have already named him as the next big thing.
The explosive left-handed batsman didn’t disappoint in his first outing for RCB. Padikkal started his stellar show against Sandeep Sharma with two fours followed by another boundary in Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s over.
Devdutt showed his attacking approach when he faced Thangarasu Natarajan. The southpaw slammed three boundaries of Natarajan’s over, and RCB were off to a flier. He scored 56 off 42 balls before being dismissed in the 11th over.
His name came into the limelight when he scored 580 runs in the 2019 Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. He was the leading run-getter in the competition with an average of 64 and carried a strike-rate of 175, including one hundred and five half-centuries.
Here are 10 interesting facts about Devdutt Padikkal:
- Devdutt began playing cricket at the age of 11.
- In 2011, when Padikkal’s family shifted from Hyderabad to Bangalore, he started training at the Karnataka Institute of Cricket.
- In 2017, he was selected by Bellary Tuskers in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL).
- Mike Hesson, the RCB’s Director of Cricket Operations, first noticed Devdutt in KPL 2017. Padikkal had won the Emerging Player award during that season.
- Padikkal was awarded as the best batsman in 2018 by Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) for his incredible performance in Cooch Behar Trophy (829 runs).
- Devdutt made his first-class debut for Karnataka as an 18-year-old in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy.
- Padikkal made his List A debut for Karnataka in the 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy, on September 26, 2019.
- With 609 runs in eleven matches, Padikkal was the leading run-scorer at Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2019-20.
- In October 2019, Padikkal was selected in India A squad for the 2019–20 Deodhar Trophy.
- Devdutt is also a handy right-arm off-break bowler.