Devdutt Padikkal looked back at his terrific 2019-20 domestic season for Karnataka in all forms of the game. The 19-year-old left-hand batsman topped the run-charts in both the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and Vijay Hazare Trophy, and held his own in a star-studded Karnataka batting line-up during the Ranji Trophy, finishing as his team's highest run-scorer of the campaign.
"I would pat my back for finishing as the highest run-getter in both the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments. Also, being the top scorer for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy meant a lot because at the beginning of the season, no one looked at me as the main player or the man to look to when the team is in a difficult situation. I felt that change this season," Cricbuzz quoted Padikkal as saying.
In what was his first full-fledged season domestically, the young batsman scored as many as 1,838 runs in 31 matches across formats.
"I've stood up on most occasions when the team wanted, and that's something I'm proud of," he said.
However, Paddikal still has to work on his consistency at the first-class level and rising on the big occasions like the Ranji knock-outs, the only box he didn't tick as Karnataka couldn't make it past the semi-finals yet another time.
"I could've done much better in Ranji Trophy," he admitted. "There were a lot of starts that I couldn't convert. There's always highs and lows in cricket. I've started to deal with that better now because I have runs to back me. I'm able to handle the two-three innings in which I'm not getting runs."
Yet, for someone who not long ago was playing at the U-19 level, this was as good an early transition he could've hoped for towards senior cricket. And support from the team management certainly helped as they didn't change his slot in the batting line-up even when players like KL Rahul and Mayank Aggarwal returned from international duties.
"I learnt to deal with circumstances because of the team and the management," Padikkal acknowledged. "Everyone is very supportive and helped me get over the disappointment."
"It's very important that you have a team that believes in you and knows that eventually, you will turn it around. For example, if I was moved around in the batting order, it wouldn't have been easy for me. So, it was really great that I was backed at my position because I wanted to take that responsibility."
(Inputs from Cricbuzz)
