IPL 2024: Devdutt Padikkal’s eventful yet struggling return to Sawai Mansingh

Devdutt Padikkal. (Photo Source: Jio Cinema)

Match 4 of the IPL featured the Rajasthan Royals taking on the Lucknow Super Giants at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. RR’s skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat. The star-studded duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler did not threaten with a big partnership this time around, with both the batters getting dismissed by the completion of the fifth over. However, a 93-run partnership for the third wicket between Samson and Riyan Parag stabilised and propelled the home team, with a late cameo from wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, thrusted them to post a competitive 193/4 on the board.

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In reply, the LSG didn’t start off quite the way they wanted, as they lost southpaw Quinton de Kock early on in the piece, on a diminutive score of 4(4). Out walked Devdutt Padikkal at No. 3, the ex-RR batter, who served two years as a part of the Rajasthan-based franchise. Notably, he scored 376 and 261 runs in IPL 2022 and IPL 2023, respectively. Ideally, he would’ve wanted to stamp an authority on his return to Jaipur, but he was in for an absolute surprise.

All three deliveries he faced were from Trent Boult, across a couple of separate overs. The first one he faced kept a touch low, almost going through the gap of Padikkal. However, Padikkal just about managed to block it through by getting his bat low and survived, tapping the ball to short third. His second delivery was from Boult’s first delivery of his second over, which rattled the daylights out of him, as the ball kicked off from a back-of-a-length, and hit Padikkal flush on the grill, which compelled the physio to come to attend to him as well as a new helmet being brought from the dugout. A small delay ensued due to this particular incident.

Padikkal’s third delivery saw the end of him, as Boult had won the psychological battle, by darting the ball on a slightly fuller length, which nipped back and caught Padikkal off-guard, who attempted an agricultural slog across the line, but was beaten all ends up.

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