Former South African dashing batter AB de Villiers has heaped praise on India’s No.3 batter Devdutt Padikkal, who smacked an exceptional 167-run knock off 230 balls with 15 fours and a six in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers has strolled down memory lane to his Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) playing days when he used to bat with Padikkal in the IPL 2020 and IPL 2021 editions.
“I loved batting with him in 2020 and 2021 because he’s a left-hander. A tall bloke that plays the short ball pretty well, considering he’s from the subcontinent. He’s one of the new generation modern Indian batters who can play the short ball really well. I also enjoyed batting with him because he was so cool, calm, and collected. He was down to earth and would take my advice in and wasn’t one of those cocky players who would turn his back on me,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
“We strategised out there in the middle, and I loved chatting to him about our next moves. We took some of the bowlers apart by rotating strike as a left-right combination. He would tell me the bowlers he wanted to attack, and I would do the same, and that’s how we completed our partnership,” he added.
Furthermore, Mr 360 has revealed that Padikkal can bat for a longer period of time and can attack whenever required, which was why he was picked ahead of Sarfaraz Khan for the ongoing Test.
“This is why I was erring towards Padikkal over Sarfaraz pre-match. Padikkal has the ability to bat for long periods of time and also attack if need be. Especially in Sri Lanka, it’s important to have an all-round specialist batter who can play spin and seam well but also bat for long periods like him. He also can pounce on the smaller moments and force the opposition captains to change things. That’s exactly what Padikkal did with his phenomenal hundred,” he concluded.
