Devdutt Padikkal hit an unbeaten 101 as Royal Challengers Bangalore thrashed Rajasthan Royals by 10 wickets in the Indian Premier League. The 20-year-old’s innings came off only 52 balls as RCB reached their target of 178 with 3.3 overs to spare.
RCB captain Virat Kohli – who scored 72 not out – also became the first man to reach 6,000 IPL runs. Earlier, Royals posted 177-9 from 20 overs, with Shivnam Dube scoring 46 and Jos Buttler falling for eight.
Top of the table RCB have now won all four of their matches in this season’s IPL, while the Royals remain second from bottom with a solitary win.
Having lost the toss and been put in to bat, the Royals fell to 43-4 after 7.2 overs.
Opener Buttler was bowled by seamer Mohammed Siraj – the pick of the RCB bowlers with 3-27 – for eight, the England player now averaging 21 from four innings in this year’s IPL.
Captain Sanju Samson – having just launched Sundar Washington for a six – also failed to score big, chipping the spinner’s very next ball straight to Glenn Maxwell at mid-wicket for 21.
Dube then led Royals’ recovery, sharing a 66-run partnership with Riyan Prag (25) for the sixth wicket, while Rahul Tewatia also contributed, with 40 off 23 balls.
RCB seamer Harshal Patel – the top wicket-taker in this season’s competition so far with 12 dismissals – picked up 3-47.
In contrast to the Royals, RCB’s openers flourished in the reply as Padikkal played a fluent yet explosive innings which included eleven boundaries and six sixes.
Padikkal brought up his sixth IPL fifty with a glorious cover drive for four before reaching his maiden IPL ton in similar fashion.
RCB captain Kohli played second fiddle to Padikkal for the majority of the chase but combined glorious orthodox cricketing shots with more powerful blows, his innings coming off 47 balls and including six boundaries and three sixes,
Kohli has now scored 6,021 runs from 196 IPL matches since making his debut in 2008, with Chennai Super Kings batsman Suresh Raina second in the list of all-time IPL run-scorers with 5,448. (BBC Sport)
