"Hopefully, we can have a really good season ahead together" - Devdutt Padikkal ecstatic on joining Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2022
Rajasthan Royals' newest recruit Devdutt Padikkal sent a message to the franchise ahead of the 15th IPL edition. The 21-year old was in demand with Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings bidding for him as well. However, the inaugural IPL champions won the bid by shelling out ₹7.75 crores for the southpaw.
The Karnataka-born cricketer made an impact in his inaugural season in 2020, playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He registered 473 runs in 15 games that year at 31.53. The stylish opener accumulated 411 more runs in the subsequent season, and scored a hundred as well.
In a clip uploaded by Rajasthan Royals' Instagram handle, he expressed his gratitude to the franchise for showing faith in him. The youngster remains keen to join forces with the stalwarts in the franchise to help them revive their fortunes. The 21-year old said:
"Hi Rajasthan family, this is Devdutt Padikkal here and I'm really happy to be joining you guys for the upcoming season. And I'm really thankful to the franchise and the management to have shown that faith in me and picking me in the auction."
He added:
"I'm really looking forward to working with the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, who are such amazing professionals and have achieved so much in their career and I'm really looking forward to working with them and at the same time improving my game as well."
He finished off by saying:
"So, hopefully, we can have a really good season ahead together and I just want to enjoy and have fun with you guys then. Halla Bol!"
It's worth noting that Padikkal also earned the emerging player of the year award in IPL 2020 for his exploits. By recruiting him, the Royals also have formidable openers alongside Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Devdutt Padikkal became the fourth buy for the franchise in the mega auction
The southpaw joined the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin (5 crores), Shimron Hetmyer (8.5 crores) and Trent Boult (8 crores) for the Royals. The inaugural IPL champions have struggled across aspects in the past few years and haven't reached the playoffs since 2018.
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Hence, it would be interesting to see how Sanju Samson turns their fortunes around.