Vijay Hazare Trophy: Devdutt Padikkal warms up for IPL 2021 with massive score

It was young Padikkal’s third List A century in his 16th game. The opener’s 140-ball knock featured five sixes and 14 fours to help Karnataka post 329/5 after batting first. Off his last 21 balls, Padikkal smashed 52 runs to bring up his first career 150 off 138 balls.

Karnataka and Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Devdutt Padikkal smashed a career-high 152. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Karnataka opening batsman Devdutt Padikkal smashed a brilliant 152 to get himself into groove for the upcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener posted his career-best score in List A format while turning out for Karnataka in a Group C match against Odisha in Bengaluru on Wednesday (February 24). 

It was young Padikkal’s third List A century in his 16th game. The opener’s 140-ball knock featured five sixes and 14 fours to help Karnataka post 329/5 after batting first.  

Padikkal was fairly sedate in reaching his century, taking 55 balls to clock his 50 and 119 balls to reach his century mark. Off his last 21 balls, Padikkal smashed 52 runs to bring up his first career 150 off 138 balls. 

Padikkal had a brilliant debut season in IPL last year, notching up 473 runs in 15 games with five half-centuries to his name and maintained a strike-rate of over 124. After three innings in this year’s Vijay Hazare Trophy, Padikkal currently averages a sensational 100.33 with scores of 52 and 97 in his last two innings.

Yet another stunning performance from Devdutt Padikkal for Karnataka.

He averages 100.33 from 3 innings thus far in the Vijay Hazare Trophy #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #KARvODSA pic.twitter.com/3LQ7cKTxse

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) February 24, 2021

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In another Group C Vijay Hazare Trophy match, Kerala’s Sanju Samson clobbered a 25-ball 50 against Railways on Wednesday. Samson, who has been appointed captain of the Rajasthan Royals side this season, was at his blistering best en route to scoring 61 off 29 balls. 

Earlier, both Kerala openers – Robin Uthappa and Vishnu Vinod – notched up centuries. Uthappa scored an even 100 off 104 balls with 5 sixes and 8 fours while Vinod hammered 107 off 107 balls.