Former Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Brad Hogg has praised Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener Devdutt Padikkal and has labelled him the player of the tournament so far.
Devdutt Padikkal was with RCB in 2019 for the whole season but didn’t get a match to showcase his mettle. But this season, he got the opportunity and successfully capitalized it. In just seven matches, the youngster has registered three half-centuries and has maintained a healthy strike rate of 126.56. Overall, he has amassed 243 runs. He will surely look to end up this season as one of the leading scorers for the team.
Most importantly, the 20-year-old batsman has taken off the burden from Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers shoulder to score runs. He has stitched up a decent partnership with Aaron Finch to set a good base for other batters which has lead RCB’s great start of the tournament.
Devdutt Padikkal player of the tournamet- Brad Hogg
Taking to Twitter, Brad Hogg stated that Devdutt Padikkal had taken a huge weight off the shoulders of the three big guns in the RCB batting line-up.
Kohli and AB have been the core of the RCB’s batting order. The franchise had bought Aaron Finch ahead of this season to give them a good start. However, Devdutt came out as the star performer for them this season.
So, Brad Hogg tagged the opening batsman as the player of the tournament. At last, former Australian cricketer also concluded that RCB was a force to reckon with this year.
“The rise of Padikkal has added extra spice in the top four of RCB taking a huge weight off the shoulders of the three big guns Finch, Kohli, & De Villiers. Padikkal the pick of the tournament at the halfway mark,” Hogg tweeted.
The rise of Padikkal has added extra spice in the top four of RCB taking a huge weight off the shoulders of the three big guns Finch, Kohli, & De Villiers. Padikkal the pick of the tournament at the half way mark. @RCBTweets are the real deal this year. #RCBvKKR #IPL2020 #KKRvRCB
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) October 13, 2020
After registering a victory against KKR on Monday, RCB has moved to the third position in the points table just behind Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians. Their next match is against Kings XI Punjab on Thursday.