devdutt padikkal: IPL: Devdutt Padikkal happy to leave Covid-forced absence behind with a century | Cricket News – Times of India

MUMBAI: Royal Challengers Bangalore‘s (RCB) opening batsman Devdutt Padikkal, who scored an unbeaten 101 off 52 balls to lead RCB to a 10-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals on Thursday, expressed relief on getting back to big scores after recovering from Covid-19.
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Padikkal, who became only the third uncapped Indian batsman to get a century in IPL, arrived late to RCB camp since he was recovering from the infection. He had to miss the first match. He couldn’t get going in the next two games but scored a roaring century on Thursday night.
“To be honest it’s been special, all I could do was wait for my turn. When I had Covid, all I wanted was to come here and play, and when I missed the first one [match], it really hurt me,” said Padikkal after being presented with the Man-of-the-Match award.

“At the end of the day, even if I hadn’t got a hundred, it wouldn’t have mattered to me if the team won. The conversation was very clear. We [Virat Kohli and him] both realised when we were going good, we just wanted to rotate the strike,” said Padikkal as he added 181 for the first wicket with his skipper. It is the most for the opening wicket for RCB.
Padikkal’s teammate Glenn Maxwell, who had been performing well for RCB, was thrilled with the performance put up by Kohli and Padikkal.

“That was my favourite game to watch so far. Clinical from start to finish. I’ve certainly been looking to go out there, but the way those two went, they were on top the whole way through,” said Maxwell.
“I’ve not done any work with Devdutt. He’s got a beautiful flow of the bat. Obviously he had Covid at the start of the year, felt a bit flat, but he cashed in,” said the Aussie batsman.