‘Learnt the flick from you’ – Devdutt Padikkal wishes to bat alongside Yuvraj Singh

Devdutt Padikkal came into the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) on the back of some decent performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. In the domestic tournaments, he scored tons and tons of runs, and the hard work is paying dividends. The southpaw has now been firing on all cylinders while representing the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

He is, in fact, their leading run-scorer in the ongoing edition with 174 runs at an average and strike-rate of 43.50 and 134.88 respectively. In four games, the left-hander has three fifties to show for his efforts and has hardly looked out of rhythm. Even in the match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Padikkal gave a decent account of his true self.

Devdutt Padikkal showing his class

He started with some power-hitting in the powerplay and got to his half-century off 34 balls. From there on, he slowed down a tad, but kept the scoreboard ticking. In the end, he scored 63 runs off 45 balls with the help of six fours and one six. In the 16th over, Jofra Archer rattled his woodwork and sent him back to the pavilion with RCB still needing 31 runs in their final 25 deliveries.

In the meantime, Padikkal drew praises from former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who lauded him for his stroke-play. In the tournament, Padikkal has 19 fours and three sixes to show for his efforts. Yuvraj didn’t forget to praise Virat Kohli, the RCB skipper, who returned to form with a 53-ball 72.

Yuvraj took to Twitter and wrote, “Form is temporary class is forever ! @imVkohli. However, I haven’t seen this boy out of form since last 8 years which is unbelievable actually ! Padikkal looks really good need to bat together and see who hits longer.”

Here’s the tweet:

After Yuvraj’s words of appreciation, Padikkal was excited and he expressed his desire to bat alongside the 2011 World Cup-winning cricketer. Padikkal replied to Yuvraj and wrote, “Not competing with you paji. Learnt the flick from you. Always wanted to bat with you. Let’s go!”

Here’s Padikkal’s reply: