Mumbai, April 8 Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Devdutt Padikkal credited his pre-season hard work after scoring 37 off 22 balls against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
RCB won the clash by 12 runs to register their first win at Wankhede after a gap of 10 years. Asked to bat first, Virat Kohli's 67 and captain Rajat Patidar's quickfire 32-ball 64 laced with four sixes and five fours helped RCB to post 221/5 in 20 overs.
Padikkal's knock was studded with three sixes and two fours and came at a strike rate of 168.18. "Coming into this season, obviously, I had to work really hard. I knew there were things that I needed to improve on. There were lots of aspects of the game that I felt weren't up to the mark in the last year. I had a good couple of months before the IPL started, and I feel all that hard work is coming into effect now," he said in the post-match press conference.
Padikkal was also involved in a 91-run partnership with Kohli for the second wicket. Reflecting on the stand, the former said, "Obviously, batting with Virat is a pleasure. He's done this over and over again for so many years so that's the level of consistency that you aim for as a young cricketer playing the IPL.
"He makes it look easy, but it isn't that easy to be honest, to come in every single year and get above 400 or 500 runs. As youngsters in the team, we are looking to learn that from him," Padikkal added.
Padikkal didn't share much about RCB's excitement following their victory over Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium after six attempts, instead offering a more practical perspective on the win.
"To be honest, every game is important for us. It doesn't matter who we are playing and where we are playing. That was the same way when we were playing CSK (in Chennai). It was the same when we played KKR (in Kolkata) and it's the same now that we have played MI (in Mumbai)," Padikkal said.
"It's important that we take every game at a time and try to win each and every game because you never know where the momentum takes you in this tournament. I really feel that we went out there, wanted to win, and we got that," he added.
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