IPL 2020: Devdutt Padikkal's season in numbers
What's the story
The Royal Challengers Bangalore were recently knocked out of IPL 2020 after losing the Eliminator to Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite a forgettable end to the tournament, they had a number of positives. One of them was the rise of youngster Devdutt Padikkal, who emerged as RCB's mainstay opener throughout the season. Let us have a look at his season in numbers.
Runs
Scored the most runs for RCB
The 20-year-old Padikkal, who made his debut in the cash-rich league, emerged as RCB's best batsman this season. So far, he is the sixth-highest run-scorer in the tournament, having amassed 473 runs from 15 games at an average of 31.53. Notably, this is the highest tally of runs by a RCB batsman (in 2020), followed by Virat Kohli (466) and AB de Villiers (454).
Information
Padikkal's scores in IPL 2020
Besides scoring plenty of runs, Padikkal also turned out to be the most consistent batsman for RCB. His scores in IPL 2020 read as - 1, 50, 5, 74, 22, 25, 35, 18, 32, 33, 4, 63, 54, 1, and 56.
Debut
Fifty on IPL debut
Padikkal, who was the highest run-getter in the Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy last season, made a remarkable IPL debut. The left-handed batsman slammed his maiden fifty (56) as RCB thrashed SRH by 10 runs. The only other RCB players to have recorded a fifty on IPL debut are Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, and Sreevats Goswami.
Feat
First player with three 50+ scores in first four matches
Although Padikkal was dismissed cheaply in the next game against Kings XI Punjab, his outings against Mumbai Indians (54) and Rajasthan Royals (63) turned out to be memorable. With this, he became the first player in the IPL history to hit three 50+ scores in first four matches of the tournament. Overall, he recorded five fifties, joint-most with KL Rahul and De Villiers.
Uncapped
Most runs by an uncapped player in debut season
In RCB's penultimate league game, Padikkal slammed yet another half-century, a defiant 41-ball 50. This helped him set the record for most runs scored by an uncapped player in a debut IPL season (472). Overall, he stands third on list of uncapped run-getters (Shaun Marsh: 616, Suryakumar: 512). In terms of fifties, he surpassed the record of Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer (four each).