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The Thursday night fixture between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) saw complete domination by the Virat Kohli-led side as they ended up chasing a massive🥂 target of 178 runs without losing a wicket.
Young Devdutt Padikkal and Kohli took RR bowlers to the cleaners and scored runs all around the ground. Padikkal, in fact, had a memorable outing as he smashed his maiden century in the cash-rich league and guided his side to their fourꦍth consecutive victory in the ongoing IPL season.
Padikkal smashed an unbeaten𝓰 101 from 52 balls, including 11 fours and 6 sixes, at a breathtaking strike rate of 194.23. Along with the left-handed batsman, Kohli scored an unbeaten 72 off 47 deliveries packed with siܫx fours and three maximums.
During the RCB’s chase, Padikkal and Royals’ star Jos Buttler were involved in a ‘Spirit of Cricket’ moment. In a viral going video shared by the official Twitter handle of IPL, Buttler can be seen tying the shoelaces of Padikkal.
Here is the clip:
👏
Jos Buttler 🤝 Devdutt Padikkal
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL)
It was outstanding: Kohli on Padikkal’s knock
After the match, the RCB skipper was in all praise of Padikka for playing a scintillating knock. Kohli termed it as an outstanding innings and said Devdutt has also put an end to the discus🔯sion regarding him not accelerating after reaching his 30s.
“It was an outstanding innings. He (Devdutt) 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,” said Kohli at the post-match presentation.
Padikkal also reacted on his hundred and said he was not worried about scoring a triple-figure mark🏅. He stated that the team w🌜inning the contest is more important to him than the personal milestones.
“For me, it’s not about getting to a hundred; I wouldn’t mind missing out on hundreds as long as I contribute to the team’s wins,” said Padikkal while receiving the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
