Devdutt Padikkal becomes the first 21st century-born Indian men’s cricketer
India are currently playing a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. They won the first game by a comfortable margin of 38 runs. However, just before the second match, the team had to face a rather complicated scenario as Krunal Pandya was detected COVID positive. This ruled out him as well his other close contact players from the series.
This forced India to make multiple changes in the playing XI for the second T20I. The team handed T20I debuts to Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Chetan Sakariya and Nitish Rana. Sakariya and Rana earlier received their maiden international caps in ODIs while Padikkal and Gaikwad made their international debuts during the second T20I.
Padikkal creates a unique record
With his inclusion in playing XI for the match, Devdutt Padikkal of India created a unique record. He became the first man to feature in an international match for India among the players born in the 21st century. Padikkal was born on 7th July 2000 and celebrated his 21st birthday recently.
In terms of age, Padikkal is the tenth youngest player for India in T20Is. However, all the other nine players were born before 2000. Players like Washington Sundar, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill and Rahul Chahar made their international debut at lower age but all four were born in 1999.
A gift for Padikkal’s consistency
Devdutt was drafted into the Indian side after his brilliant form in domestic cricket in the last two to three years. In Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021, he scored 737 runs in 7 innings at an incredible average of 147.40. He slammed 4 centuries and 3 fifties in this season of VHT. In the earlier season as well, the left-hander scored over 700 runs for Karnataka. He thus became the first player to score over 700 runs in two consecutive seasons of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Padikkal has been impressive in IPL too while opening for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. In IPL 2020, he was the highest run-getter for the team. The opener scored 473 runs in 15 innings which included 5 half-centuries. He shone again in IPL 2021 and slammed a brilliant hundred against Kolkata Knight Riders. He has been impressive in the domestic T20 tournament Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well.
