He is being billed as the next big thing for India in T20s and Royal Challengers Bangalore's young Devdutt Padikkal lived up to the hype in their opening game vs Sunrisers Hyderabad. Even Virat Kohli vacated his opening slot and the young 20-year-old gave his side a blistering start with a 42-ball-56. The Karnataka lad looked confident while facing international stars like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan and gave his side a 90-run opening stand with Aaron Finch, which made the Aussie skipper speak highly of him.
Interestingly, making half-centuries on debut is something that Padikkal enjoys as he has smashed 50s on his First-class, List-A, T20 & now IPL debut. Moreover, Padikkal is the first since 2016 to score a fifty on debut in the IPL.