Young Indian cricketer Devdutt Padikkal created a unique history in the second T20I of the ongoing 3-match T20I series against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo. The left-handed batsman, who had impressed one and all with his stunning performances for RCB in the IPL’s previous edition, became the first cricketer born in this century to play for team India. Yes, you read that right.
Apart from this, Padikkal made his international debut at the age of 21y 21d in the year ’21. He is the first such player with this identical triplet.
Devdutt was among the four debutants for India who made their debut in the game last night, the other three are Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, and Chetan Sakariya.
For the unversed, Padikkal rose to the limelight after he represented team India Under-19 and soon he earned a call-up to the Karnataka Ranji Trophy side. Padikkal made a sensational 77 runs on his Ranji Trophy debut against Maharashtra in November 2018. He was then roped in by Royal Challengers Bangalore at the player auction before the start of IPL 2019.
The young talent turned out to be the emerging player of his maiden IPL tournament. He scored 473 runs, including five half-centuries for RCB in 15 matches.
Not just this, he scored his maiden IPL century against Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2021, which was suspended-mid-way because of the outbreak of Coronavirus in the bio-bubble. He played a stunning knock of 101 runs off 52 deliveries and made a record of scoring the fastest century in the IPL by an uncapped player.
Now talking about his performance in the 2nd T20I match, Padikkal scored 29 off 23 balls before being dismissed by Wanindu Hasaranga. Though he managed to get off to a great start on the sluggish track however he failed to convert his knock into a big score.
