IPL 2021: Mike Hesson confirms availability of Devdutt Padikkal, likely to feature against Sunrisers Hyderabad

IPL 2021: Mike Hesson confirms availability of Devdutt Padikkal, likely to feature against Sunrisers Hyderabad

Devdutt Padikkal

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener Devdutt Padikkal was in fine touch coming into the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). But he was ruled out of the opening encounter of his side as he tested positive for COVID-19. While he recovered from the virus, the franchise rested him for the opening encounter so as to nurse him back to 100 percent of his health.

Ahead of their second game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Director of Cricket Mike Hesson confirmed that the southpaw is fully fit and will be in consideration for the game. Hesson adds that Kiwi opener Finn Allen, who was in red hot form against Bangladesh will also be available for the clash.

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“Devdutt Padikkal has come back nicely, he would be fully fit so he will be considered for the game against SunRisers, and most likely, he would play. Finn Allen has come out of quarantine and looks in great touch, we would have Zampa and Richardson back heading into the next game as well, they will get out the day of the game,” Hesson said in a video posted on the official Twitter handle of RCB.

Devdutt Padikkal had a breakthrough season in IPL 2020 in the UAE. He scored 473 runs in 15 matches at an average of 31.53. The southpaw was in sublime touch in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy too where he scored 737 runs at an average over 100.

“RCB deserved to win the game against Mumbai Indians,” Simon Katich

Simon Katich
Simon Katich

RCB won their opening encounter against the Mumbai Indians which went down to the wire. Head coach Simon Katich asserts that his side deserved the win. Katich adds that the pitch is tricky at Chepauk and the game will depend on how it plays on the night.

“Look, we are very happy with the start we had, I think we deserved to win the game against Mumbai Indians. We did a lot of hard work, I guess the only thing is we would have wanted to finish the game off against Mumbai two or three wickets down, it was a great partnership between Virat and Maxwell. When we look back at the game, we have got few little areas to improve upon and that is great. We did a lot of things really well, obviously with the ball and with a partnership in the middle,” said coach Katich.

“It was an interesting wicket, the first one. It certainly wasn’t that easy to bat on. The quality of the bowling was really good, it will all depend on the pace of the wicket. It certainly was on the slower side and difficult to score,” he added.

The game against MI saw Harshal Patel and AB de Villiers star with the ball and bat respectively. While Harshal took a five wicket haul to become the first bowler to do the same against MI, de Villiers played a blistering knock to take RCB to the doorstep of a win. It was Harshal again who scored the winning runs off the last ball of the game.

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