Former Indian opener and arguably one of the most destructive batsmen of his time, Virender Sehwag is of the opinion that young opening talent Devdutt Padikkal still has an outside chance of making it to the T20 World Cup squad if he performs well for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the remaining 7-8 matches. Barring Padikkal, Sehwag named three other batsmen who he will be watching with intent during the 2nd half of the tournament.
“My first choice will be Ishan Kishan followed by Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul and Sanju Samson. These four I will be intently watching. I have loved Devdutt's batting and if I have to pick one amongst the four, he is my man,” Sehwag was quoted as saying by PTI.
“Who knows, if he does well, he might be drafted in as that Indian top-order for the T20 World Cup,” he further added.
Padikkal had a dream start to his IPL career in 2020 when he amassed 473 runs in 15 matches, finishing as the leading run-getter for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in that season. He kept up the good work even in domestic cricket scoring runs consistently before earning a maiden national call-up for the tour of Sri Lanka.
Padikkal struggled against the quality Sri Lankan spinners and didn’t quite return with impressive scores. Padikkal did struggle in Colombo which was one of the toughest conditions during the tour of Sri Lanka but he is a good player against spin.
Before this season was suspended midway, Padikkal had struck 195 runs in 6 matches which included a sensational century against the Rajasthan Royals. Sehwag is confident of the fact that he will come good in the second half of the IPL.
"100%. We have around seven matches minimum left for the teams. That means you still have a platform to perform and those who are on the fringes could still impress the Indian selectors who would be watching the tournament closely. "Since ICC allows a window to change teams, I will not be surprised if there are some changes in the original squad," Sehwag said.
The second half of the Indian Premier League kicks off later today (September 19) with arch-rivals Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings locking horns against each other. Padikkal will return to action with RCB’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday (20th September).