‘Birthday boy timing the ball to perfection’: BCCI leads wishes as Devdutt Padikkal turns 21

The BCCI on Wednesday shared a 30-second video clip in which Devdutt Padikkal could be seen timing the ball extremely well.

Young batsman Devdutt Padikkal, who shares his birthday with former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, turned 21 on Wednesday. The Karnataka batsman is currently in Sri Lanka and gearing up for the upcoming limited-overs series against the hosts, which begins on July 13 in Colombo.

Devdutt Padikkal during net practice (HT Collage)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took to Twitter and wished the youngster on his 21st birthday in style. The board shared a 30-second video clip in which Padikkal could be seen timing the ball extremely well.

“30 seconds of the birthday boy timing the ball to perfection in the nets. Happy birthday, devdpd07,” the BCCI captioned the video.

This is going to be Padikkal’s debut tour with the Indian team. While the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and other regular players are touring England for a 5-match Test series, Padikkal and several other young guns received their maiden call-ups to play against Sri Lanka.

The 21-year-old has been in a rich vein of form lately. Following a terrific stint at the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he scored 737 runs in the season, Padikkal did a phenomenal job in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Before the tournament was suspended, he had amassed 195 runs from 6 matches, including a century.

His consistency in the domestic circuit and IPL helped him earn a spot in the Indian squad for the upcoming tour. He recently stitched a 60-run stand with Prithvi Shaw in an intra-squad simulation match and is one of the frontrunners to open the innings alongside skipper Shikhar Dhawan.

Just like his RCB skipper Virat Kohli, he is set to make his international debut on Lankan soil.