'A cross between Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh' - How Twitter reacted to Devdutt Padikkal's fifty

Devdutt Padikkal had already made giant strides in Indian domestic cricket with a string of consistent and magnificent performances in the Karnataka side. Padikkal was picked by the Royal Challengers Bangalore and there was immediate excitement as a young talent was been groomed. Padikkal lived up to the hype and he blasted a fifty on debut against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in IPL 2020 on Monday.

Padikkal opened the batting with Australian ODI skipper Aaron Finch and immediately, he took the attack to the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers. Padikkal smashed two boundaries off Sandeep Sharma and increased his aggression by hammering three boundaries of left-arm pacer T Natarajan. Finch got going with some big sixes and he notched up his fifty with a slog sweep of Abhishek Sharma as Rashid Khan misjudged the catch.

Padikkal became the fifth Royal Challengers Bangalore player to score a fifty on debut for the franchise, joining Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh and Sreevats Goswami who had achieved the feat. Gayle remains the only player to have hit a century on debut for RCB and it came in IPL 2011 against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Superb Padikkal

Padikkal and Finch’s 90-run stand, combined with an aggressive fifty from AB de Villiers and some superb bowling from Yuzvendra Chahal gave Royal Challengers Bangalore a morale-boosting 10-run win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Following the knock, many Indian social media users called for Devdutt Padikkal to be on the Indian cricket team soon.

A is born.

Well played Dev!#PlayBold #IPL2020 #WeAreChallengers #Dream11IPL #SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/UpACZIZHrC

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) September 21, 2020

Devdutt Padikkal:

Fifty on First-class debut
Fifty on List-A debut
Fifty on T20 debut
Fifty on IPL debut#PlayBold#RCBVsSRH

— Aryatarun01 (@aryatarun01) September 22, 2020

"#IPL2020: One to watch out for — Devdutt Padikkal shines on IPL debut" https://t.co/3yHAGQojwB

— Sinan coorg (@sinan_coorg) September 22, 2020

A great start for @RCBTweets I see every player is giving their best on field and that's ultimatley what all a captain need. #DevduttPadikkal what a performance man. Hatt'sss off to you self-confidence. #SRHvRCB #IPL2020

— Sameer patil (@SamsViratian) September 22, 2020

Please we need "Buri Nazar Repellant" for this guy. We found a gem. All hail "Prince of RCB" #Paddikal #RCBVsSRH

— G (@ThatWittyGal) September 21, 2020

#paddikal batting style reminds me of Yuvraj Singh!

Man this guy is awesome, look at those array of shots.

Already a star!#RCBVsSRH

— Shikhar (@shikharskr) September 21, 2020

One hopes that Devdutt Padikkal achieves tremendous consistency and success in the IPL 2020 and goes on stake a claim as one of the best young guns in the country.