IPL 2020 | Padikkal will rise to incredible heights with this IPL, opines GK Anil Kumar

IPL 2020 | Padikkal will rise to incredible heights with this IPL, opines GK Anil Kumar

no photo

Devdutt Padikkal has scored 473 runs in 15 matches

|

@IPL

Veteran coach GK Anil Kumar has opined that Devdutt Padikkal’s smashing run this season will help him reach incredible heights like Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have done previously. He added that the main difference between Padikkal and other players is his understanding of the game situations.

Young Karnataka batsman Devdutt Padikkal entered the IPL on the back of an incredible performance in the domestic season for Karnataka, finishing as the highest run-getter in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2019/20. In fact, in the T20 series, Padikkal amassed 580 runs at a strike-rate of 175.75 and he carried over the same form to IPL 2020, where he scored 473 runs in 15 matches, an amazing feat that even the best of players fail to achieve. 

Talking about Devdutt Padikkal, veteran coach from Karnataka GK Anil Kumar, who has helped shape the future of many bright and promising young cricketers, pointed out that Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, who rose to prominence after amazing performances in the IPL, took some time before having their breakout season, contrasting to Padikkal, who had his breakout season this year. He opined that this smashing season will help Padikkal reach new heights. 

“Pandya, Bumrah took some time. They took 1-2 years to really establish themselves, but with Padikkal you can clearly say that the kind of impact he’s had in his first IPL is tough even for an established international cricketer match playing his first IPL to match. It is really difficult to categorize Padikkal, a youngster, a rookie, getting into his first IPL, he got five half-centuries – three of which came in four matches. That speaks volumes of what he can do later,” Anil Kumar told Hindustan Times.

“I think he will definitely be a top contender and reach where Pandya and Bumrah are. Without a doubt, Padikkal will rise to incredible heights with this IPL.”

Anil Kumar further pointed out that the difference between Padikkal and other players is that he has a better cricketing brain and insisted that very few batsmen have such conviction and calmness. 

“What separates Padikkal is his sharp cricketing acumen, his understanding of a game situation. More than anything else, the will of wanting to perform in a pressure situation. He likes it. Most will have butterflies in their stomach and they are thrusted into tournaments where the competition is grim. But Padikkal is one individual who enjoys pressure. Very few batsmen have that kind of mindset and conviction, that calmness,” Anil Kumar said. 

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all