Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener Devdutt Padikkal said it is almost like they are continuing the tournament again and does not feel like that they have had a long break, as the RCB is gearing up to set the stage on fire when the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) resumes in the UAE.
The 14th edition of the IPL was suspended earlier this year after the number of COVID-19 cases in the bio-bubble. Now, the second half of the IPL 2021 is set to be played in the UAE from September 19 and Padikkal said RCB will look to continuing with the momentum they had in India.
RCB were in great form in the IPL 14 before the tournament was suspended as the franchise has won 5 matches from 7 games and is ranked 3rd on the points table. They will resume the campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on September 20 in Abu Dhabi.
Padikkal said in a video shared by RCB on Twitter: “It is almost like we are continuing the tournament again; it does not feel like that we have had a long break because we have had enough cricket. It does not feel like a huge break and it is just about continuing with the momentum we had in the first phase of the season.”
The 21-year-old added, “In India, cricket is a huge festival and it is a religion. There is a lot of attention you get outside the sport as well so it is important you try to focus on the game. It is very easy to drift away and get distracted, so what I have tried to do is to focus on the game and try not to look at the media because it is easy to get distracted by those things.”
The left-hander also spoke about RCB’s chances to win the IPL 2021 in the UAE, “I would hope so. Every one comes with the hope of winning the IPL, hopefully, this is our year. We have a good squad and we have gotten good replacements as well so we look ready for the challenge.”
Noteworthy, the RCB has reportedly arranged a charter flight for Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj who will reach Dubai on Sunday morning and undergo 6-day quarantine before joining the team bubble.
(With ANI Inputs)
