Royal Challengers Bangalore young prospect Devdutt Padikkal revealed that former Indian skipper Gautam Gambhir is his role model. Padikkal added that he still watches videos of the Indian ace to advance his batting skills. While Paddikal is inspired by every cricketer who has represented India, he holds a special place for the 2011 World Cup hero Gambhir. The 20-year-old made a dream start to his IPL career, last season, where he outscored Indian skipper Virat Kohli in the highest run-scorers chart.
IPL 2021: Devdutt looks up to Gautam Gambhir
Paddikal carried his strong IPL form into domestic cricket. He dominated the recently conducted Vijay Hazare trophy while playing for Karnataka. Paddikal will be hoping to come up with the good in this year’s IPL as well. However, the opener has been tested positive for COVID-19 and is likely to miss the opening game for RCB against Mumbai Indians.
Padikkal recently gave an interview to the Times of India, where he discussed his inspiration, his favourite player and the upcoming IPL season.
“For me, there is not one individual who has inspired me. Every person has a separate story and everyone really has gone through with some things to get there in their career. I take inspiration from every cricketer who has played for India because getting there is not easy at all.
“It takes a lot to get there. They have done a lot to reach that level and contributed to the country. But my role model is Gautam Gambhir in cricket. I have grown up watching him bat. I still watch his videos. I still love his batting. Gambhir is my cricketing role model,” Devdutt Padikkal told Times of India.
“I have matured with time and the way I have been batting. I really learnt a lot in terms of building an innings and getting those big runs because I used to have problems with getting out several times in the 70s and 80s. In the last couple of years, I have really worked a lot on my batting to build an innings and to have a clear set of plans. I learnt the art of how to go ahead from start to finish. That’s what really helped me in the domestic season where I got those centuries and took my team to wins.
“For me, I try to keep things simple. I take one ball and a bowler at a time – that’s my mantra. Sometimes you get carried away after a decent or good start. I have set game plans now. I plan ahead of a match. I want to be consistent in any format I play,” the Karnataka opener stated.
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