Many more to come! Padikkal told Kohli before notching up his maiden IPL century

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Bengaluru, April 22: “He (Padikkal) said many more to come, I told him you tell me that after you get the first one!” That’s what captain Virat Kohli told the Royal Challengers Bangalore youngster who was knocking on the doors off his maiden IPL ton.

It was a dream innings from Devdutt Padikkal who hammered the Rajasthan Royals bowlers to score an unbeaten 101 off 52.

Playing their fourth match of the season the Royal Challengers Bangalore put up an emphatic show with both bat and ball. After the bowlers restricted Rajasthan to 177 for 9 at the Wankhede, RCB openers Padikkal and Kohli stitched together an unbeaten opening stand to guide Bangalore to a 10-wicket victory over Rajasthan.

RCB chased down the target with 21 balls to spare.

Towards the fag end of the innings, captain Kohli kept giving the strike back to Padikkal who was on the verge of his maiden IPL century. As revealed by Kohli at the presentation ceremony, Padikkal told his skipper to finish off the game and said “Many more to come (century)!” In response Kohli told the Karnataka batsmen, “Tell me that after you get the first one.”

And with that Kohli egged him on to take the big shot and bring up his century. And Padikkal did just that. Needing just three runs to reach the 100-mark, Padikkal hit Mustafizur on the first ball of the 16th over and drilled it past extra cover to bring up his maiden ton in style with a boundary.

After being down with Covid at the onset of the season, the RCB opener has bounced back and how! The Karnataka player had a memorable outing as he stamped his authority in the early stages of the tournament and guided RCB to a thumping 10-wicket victory over Rajasthan. Thursday’s win sees RCB continue their unbeaten run and climb to the top of the table.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to Padikkal’s maiden IPL ton: