The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 has witnessed just a couple of centuries so far. To start with, Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) Sanju Samson played a flashy knock of 119 against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) though, he failed to take his team over the line. On Thursday, April 22, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) Devdutt Padikkal became the second centurion of the tournament.
The fiery young opener smashed his maiden IPL century off just 51 balls and helped his team beat the Royals by 10 wickets with 21 balls to spare in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor, the Minister of Parliament (MP) from Thiruvananthapuram lauded Padikkal and Samson for accomplishing the milestones in IPL 2021.
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In his tweet, Shashi Tharoor tweeted, “How amazing that both the centuries in this year’s #IPL have been scored by Malayalis when Kerala has so long been regarded as a cricketing backwater! Congratulations @devdpd07 for joining @IamSanjuSamson as the only two to cross the hundred mark so far this year,”
How amazing that both the centuries in this year’s #IPL have been scored by Malayalis, when Kerala has so long been regarded as a cricketing backwater! Congratulations @devdpd07 for joining @IamSanjuSamson as the only two to cross the hundred mark so far this year
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 22, 2021
After playing the match-winning knock, Padikkal was at the seventh heaven and was happy to contribute to the team’s win. The southpaw missed the opening match of the season for his team due to coronavirus, but he has made an incredible comeback.
After his knock, Devdutt Padikkal said, “It’s been special. I could only wait my turn. When I was down with COVID, all I was thinking of was to come here and play the first match here. I couldn’t do that but was keen to contribute to the team’s win. The wicket was coming on really well and we got a good start.”
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In the meantime, Samson was disappointed following RR’s loss. He had said, “They batted really well. We did well to get that score on the board after the early wickets. We need to go back and do some homework. We need to be honest with ourselves and come back better.”
