For Devdutt Padikkal winning matters, century doesn’t

Mumbai: It is a challenge to hit boundaries in the middle overs, said Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) young star Devdutt Padikkal. However, he found the task to be relatively easy thanks to the partnership with skipper Virat Kohli. It should be stated here that Devdutt Padikkal got his maiden century in the IPL game against Rajasthan Royals played Thursday. In the process he put to rest talks about his strike rate after a couple of unimpressive outings. RCB won the game by 10 wickets.

“It’s about the situation of the game. I always have a particular role that I have to play. I have to do that as well as possible,” Padikkal said at the post-match press conference.

“Sometimes it can get challenging in the middle overs and it’s not easy to hit boundaries all the time. It was a good wicket, we had the partnership going and we were complementing each other well. So, in that situation it was easier to hit those boundaries. It happened because Virat bhai was always rotating the strike,” Padikkal added.

Padikkal was asked what was on his mind when he was inching closer to his maiden century. He said he wasn’t thinking about his milestone as the win was more important.

“To be honest, I was just looking to finish the game off, that’s what mattered the most. We wanted to get the win as early as possible. When I was out there I was never really thinking about my hundred,” Padikkal informed.

The left-handed opening batsman enjoyed a breakout IPL season last year followed by an impressive domestic campaign with Karnataka. In the ongoing edition of the T20 league, he has scored 137 runs in three games at a strike rate of 147.31.

“In the last two seasons, I’ve only looked to keep things simple. I have not tried to do anything different and special. I have tried to stick to my process, be as consistent as possible and thankfully I have been able to do that,” Padikkal pointed out.

The youngster had tested positive for COVID-19 before the start of the tournament. He had missed out on the first match against defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI).  However, Padikkal was back in the RCB playing XI from their second game.

“Coming out of COVID definitely was a big challenge. I was really glad that I was able to contribute to the team’s win from the second game. As long as I am contributing and the team are winning is what matters to me,” Padikkal asserted.

RCB will next take on former champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their next IPL game Sunday.