“It’s Definitely Challenging When…”: Royal Challengers Bengaluru Star Devdutt Padikkal Opens Up On Struggles In IPL

The young DEVDUTT Padikkal striker acknowledged that the constant displacement in the teams “was difficult” and has delayed his flowering as a cricket player in the Indian Premier League. Devdutt began his IPL career with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2020 and moved to the Royals of Rajasthan after two seasons. After being in the RR ranks for two years (2022-2023), the left-hander moved to Lucknow Super Giants in 2024, before returning to his RCB home franchise this season. He has not yet fired great blow this season, but Devdutt has shown signs of being in his dominant self with a 37 of 22 bullets against the Indians of Mumbai on Mumbai.

“It is definitely difficult when you are not installed on the other side. At the age of 21, I was in the RCB and when I moved to another franchise, it was a bit uncomfortable, of course,” he told the media during the post-match press meeting.

“I was not very confident about me and it took me three to four years to really find what I am as a cricket player in IPL. It’s not that simple. You try your best, but sometimes it just doesn’t work,” he added.

Devdutt said he had made a dedicated pre-season effort to flatten some faults in his striker.

“Coming this season, obviously, I had to work very hard. I knew there were things I needed to improve. There were a lot of aspects of the game that I was not up to the task that I felt last year. I had a few good months before the start of the IPL and that I think that all this work has entered now,” he said.

Devdutt, which added 91 points for the second window with Virat Kohli to help RCB set a huge target of 222 against Mi, said that the striker with the star striker has always been a “pleasure”.

“Obviously, the striker with Virat is a pleasure. He did it again and again for so many years, so it is the level of coherence that you aim as a young cricket player playing IPL,” he said.

“It makes things easy, but it is not so easy to be honest, to come each year and to exceed 400,500 points. As young people from the team, we are trying to learn this from him,” he said.

Devdutt said Rohit Sharma had difficulties against the rhythm of the left arm was the reason behind the bringing Yash Dayal early in the attack.

“It is actually true, I do not attend the meeting of queries. But I am aware that many left pacers have turned Rohit in the past and have been successful against him. So, I am sure it was thought behind this decision,” he said.

Devdutt did not reveal much about RCB’s exaltation after defeating Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium after six attempts, but adopted a more pragmatic vision of victory.

“To be honest, each match is important for us. No matter who we play and where we play. It was the same thing when we played CSK (in Chennai). It was the same thing when we played KKR (in Kolkata) and it is the same thing now that we played Mi (in Mumbai),” he said.

“It is important that we were taking every match at a time and trying to win every game because you never know where the momentum takes you to this tournament. I really feel that we went there, that we wanted to win, and we had that,” he added.

Devdutt said it was “boring” to be left out during the team’s installation rounds and hoped to have more time on the field. He was discussed impact Sub Suyansh Sharma during the Target Defense of the RCB.

“Honestly, it’s not ideal. I have always loved Fielding and it’s something I always wanted to do in every game,” he said.

“I think I can make this difference when I am on the field. But the team is set up in such a way that I must be the one that is and we have large fields of fields on the field itself then.” “It is a rule which, according to them, helps the game. I hope that I can possibly start to line up because it is quite boring to sit and look,” he added.

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