Courtesy: BCCI/IPL
Former Australia captain Aaron Finch, who played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2020, has praised Devdutt Padikkal’s ferocious batting attitude in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The left-handed batter has performed exceptionally in his last three games. His scores were unbeaten 40, 61, and 50. Batting at number three, he is doing his job efficiently as a top-order batter. Against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Bengaluru, RCB bagged an 11-run win and won their first game of the season in their backyard. Padikkal, who came to bat number three after Phil Salt’s dismissal, took RR’s bowling unit to the cleaners and produced a 50-run knock off 27 balls. His innings played a vital role in taking RCB to a massive total of 2025/5 in their 20 overs.
Noting Padikkal’s super batting show, Finch not only hailed his effort but also unearthed RCB’s tactic of utilising Virat Kohli ingeniously to give him and RCB captain Rajat Patidar a free hand to attack bowlers. “That’s when you can put some cowboys in the middle order, ultra-high risk, and they tried to do that with Livingstone, and it hasn't quite worked. Last year, Maxwell played that high risk game as well, and Patidar is looking to be overly-aggressive as well. So it just allows you a platform, you know, once Virat gets in, very rarely does he get out at 30. So he goes deeper, play aggressively around him and build around that,” said Finch on ESPNcricinfo.
RCB win their maiden home game of IPL 2025 season
On Bengaluru’s batting-friendly track, Josh Hazlewood held his nerves and guided RCB to the 11-run triumph. He took the crucial scalps of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, and Jofra Archer. Riding on his 4/33 in four overs, RCB contained RR on 194/9. His bowling excellence also got him the player of the match (POTM) award.
It was RCB’s first success while playing in their backyard M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Their victory came after three successive losses at home. The Rajat Patidar-led team will next take on Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on April 27.
