Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar gave his take on Devdutt Padikkal’s lean patch in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League. Padikkal who usually opens the innings in domestic cricket has been demoted to the middle order for Rajasthan Royals this season. The southpaw was dismissed for 2 in the Royals’ opening match of the season versus Sunrisers Hyderabad. While he struggled to get going in the Punjab Kings clash. Padikkal scored 21 runs off 26 balls at a strike rate of 80.77.
The 22-year-old came under scrutiny for his slow knock as Rajasthan Royals suffered a 5-run defeat on Wednesday at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
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Manjrekar feels that Padikkal is short of confidence and said that he tried to play big shots against Punjab Kings but struggled to do it.
“His [Devdutt Padikkal] confidence is at rock bottom. That’s the only reason why he was looking so scratchy. It wasn’t about intent. Poor fellow was trying to play the big shots and up the tempo, but it wasn’t happening. If that’s not happening on a pitch like this, then obviously there’s something to do with the mind," said Manjrekar.
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The former India cricketer also talked about Rajasthan’s batting order and suggested that the number 4 spot is not ideal for Padikkal and he should bat above skipper Sanju Samson.
“The ideal batting order for RR would be if they want to keep backing Devdutt Padikkal, then he can’t be batting at No.4 because it is tough for somebody who opens the innings to find form batting at No.4. There is Sanju Samson who could make the sacrifice and bat at No.4, which he has done in the past and is a good enough player to do that," Manjrekar added.
Padikkal has scored 1283 runs in 48 IPL matches at an average of 27.30 so far in his career. His numbers have dipped drastically in the last couple of seasons since he joined Royals as he used to play as an opener in his first IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore and scored 400-plus runs in back-to-back years.
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