Mumbai: Stylish Padikkal steals thunder from captain Kohli in emphatic 10-wicket victory for RCB Devdutt Padikkal managed to overshadow none other than the great Virat Kohli with an elegant hundred in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s successful 178-run chase against Rajasthan Royals, in a virtual cakewalk of an IPL contest here on Thursday.RCB never looked in any tearing hurry and yet the target was achieved in only 16.3 overs with all 10 wickets intact.
Kohli went on the offensive once Padikkal had ensured victory as his contribution was 72 not out off 47 balls in their unbroken opening stand of 181.
A happy Virat Kohli said, ‘Virat Kohli: It was an outstanding innings. He 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. T20 cricket is always about partnership cricket. You can’t always go big from the word go. When one guy is going well, it’s important for me to ensure that I don’t lose my wicket. It can change on other days. We spoke about it (on the 100). He told me to finish it off, I told him to get to it first. He said many will come, I said yea you can say that after you get to the landmark. He deserved to get the three-figure mark. We don’t have standout names (in bowling) but we have effective ones. We have depth in our bowling. They are professionals. We have taken the most wickets in the death overs this season so far and it’s something we take pride in. Dev’s innings was a great one but I’d also like to credit the bowlers for setting it up. (to the fans) I’d say don’t be overexcited. We’re being professional. We’re moving in the right direction.’
Man of the Match Padikkal, said, ‘It’s been special. I could only wait my turn. When I was down with COVID, all I was thinking of was to come here and play the first match here. I couldn’t do that but was keen to contribute to the team’s win. The wicket was coming on really well and we got a good start. When you get into a partnership like that, it helps as runs come from both ends. (Whether he was worried about the 100) Not really, that’s what I was telling Virat to go for it. For me it’s not about getting to a hundred, I wouldn’t mind missing out on hundreds as long as I contribute to team’s wins. Throughout the innings there were times when he was going better and then I was going better. Rotation of strike is important. We just clicked well.’
RR skipper Sanju Samson, said, ‘They batted really well. We did well to get that score on the board after the early wickets. We need to go back and do some homework. We need to be honest with ourselves and come back better. Need time to look into what went wrong and understand, I am sure we will comeback well. This game… It puts you down but you need to find a way and come out better.’