For over a year now, Devdutt Padikkal has been earning a name for himself and the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE provided him with the opportunity to showcase his talent, and the stylish southpaw just cashed in on it. He got the opportunity to run shoulders with the stalwarts like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, and Yuzvendra Chahal, Padikkal proved to be a surprise package.

Talking about the same, Padikkal said, “Did I surprise myself? In terms of my personal performance, I knew I had runs behind me and I could make an impact. I used to enjoy his (Gambhir) batting and really liked the fact that he would deliver whenever his team would require it the most. Whenever the team was under pressure you could count on him. He is one of my cricket idols.”

However, unlike both those superstars, Padikkal prefers to stay calm. That was evident during his stint in the just-concluded season of the IPL, where he amassed 473 runs to be RCB’s leading run-getter ahead of the likes of Kohli and de Villiers.

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Describing the same, Devdutt Padikkal said, “It is not easy to stay calm and be in the present because you can get carried away in a tournament like IPL. It has changed my mindset as to how to deal with a lot of situations. They (senior players) keep themselves stable throughout the season regardless of how the team is performing and would focus on the process and not on the result. As for me, I wanted to ensure that if I get a chance I make an impact and it feels good that I could do that.”

Having proven his mettle in domestic cricket, Padikkal’s career is still at an early stage and he will have to prove himself again and again before he gets to make his Indian debut. But the youngster isn’t losing his sleep over it, after all, he remembers what Kohli told him before the two parted ways at the end of their campaign.

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Talking about the same, Padikkal said, “There’s a long way to go for me and there’s so much I have to improve upon. Virat helped me along the way in terms of how to build innings. He asked me to continue to work hard and not let the success affect me. Keep pushing ahead and keep improving is what he told me, and that’s what I am going to do.”