Devdutt Padikkal had a dream run with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League. After joining the franchise at the base price of Rs 20 lakh in 2019, the stylish southpaw warmed the bench in his first season but returned to dominate in the following edition.
The year 2020 saw the then 20-year-old amass 473 runs in 15 matches and also bag the Emerging Player of the Season award. In a star-studded line-up featuring the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell, Padikkal carved his own space at top of the order and followed the debut season success with a similar show in the 2021 edition where he scored 411 runs, including the best of 101*.
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Padikkal isn’t your regular T20 batter in the slam-bang mould and is more touch than power. He enjoys when the fielding restrictions are on and has a tight game against the moving ball – something which contributed to his success during RCB days. On back of two good seasons, Padikkal went on to make his debut for India in the shortest format and entered the 2022 IPL mega auction as a hot property.
The way his bidding unfolded spoke about his talent and how highly teams rate him. From a base price of Rs 2 crore, it shot to over Rs 5 crore in no time and attracted interest from RR, Mumbai Indians, RCB and Chennai Super Kings. RCB bailed out when the bid crossed the 4.5 crore mark but RR, who joined the bid only after it went over Rs 4 crore, seemed determined to get the elegant left-hander and acquired his services for Rs 7.75 crore.
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RR’s auction strategy did raise a few eyebrows as they had already retained young Yashaswi Jaiswal for Rs 4 crore and were still going all-out for an opener in the similar mould. With Jos Buttler being the first choice, only one out of Padikkal or Jaiswal would have partnered the destructive Englishman.
The confusion persisted in Padikkal’s first season with the Royals as he didn’t bat at a fix number and was mostly used in the middle-order. Not in his usual slot, the returns diminished from the youngster’s willow and the season ended with just 376 runs from 17 matches, at a disappointing average of 22.12.
Even after that disappointing run and presence of a cheaper option in Jaiswal, RR backed Padikkal and retained him ahead of the mini-auction last year. The move, however, is hurting both the player and the franchise. Still early days in the 2023 edition, but Padikkal has struggled in the first two games for the Sanju Samson-led unit.
In the opening game against the SRH, Padikkal walked out to bat as late as the 13th over and was undone by the raw pace of Umran Malik for 2. He had more time in the second fixture, where Rajasthan were chasing a 198-run target against Punjab Kings, but struggled to get going and the asking rate kept climbing with every dot ball he faced in the middle overs. Nathan Elis sent him back to the hut for a labouring 26-ball 21 and the innings did derail the chase substantially and left remaining batters with a mountain to climb.
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When he was dismissed, Royals still needed 74 off the last five overs, had the firepower of Shimron Hetmyer but Padikkal’s approach meant the West Indian didn’t get adequate amount of deliveries to seal the deal. They came close courtesy brilliant hands by Impact Player Dhruv Jurel and Hetmyer but fell short by just five runs. There is no dearth of firepower in RR’s batting unit but some questionable calls/batting positions are not allowing them to deliver the knockout blows.
A Padikkal in the middle-order, mostly at No.4, with a career strike-rate of 133.72 in the format will not help the franchise’s cause and will end up consuming deliveries which could be better used by someone like a Hetmyer lower down the order. Yes, during an early collapse Padikkal makes sense but they can well draft him as an Impact Player during that situation. Having him in the starting XI is allowing the teams to apply the choke in the middle-overs and expecting too much from the batters at the other end. Even in the mammoth chase on Wednesday, the batters Riyan Parag, Hetmyer and Jurel gave their all but 26 deliveries faced by Padikkal for just 21 allowed Punjab Kings to dominate that period.
To be fair to the 22-year-old, it’s not the number which suits his natural game. He would be far more effective at top of the order against the hard new ball and with the field up. In the middle-order, he would continue to labour for runs. Both Padikkal and Royals will be better off having him as an Impact Player option and give more time in the middle to the likes of Parag and Hetmyer. Especially during the closing stages of the innings while batting first or while chasing mammoth totals. Hetmyer, in particular, has been hitting the ball beautifully since the 2021 season and clearly needs more time to enjoy more impact.
For now, it will make sense to have Padikkal as a back-up for Jaiswal at top of the order and keep him on standby as an Impact Player. The ongoing arrangement will make it increasingly difficult for the left-hander to do a repeat of his days with RCB.
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