Bipin Dani
Devdutt Padikkal, who made debut for the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the IPL is the best young (Under 20) batting talent in the World in T20, according to Prad Navaratnam, the Sri Lanka-born computer analyst.
The left-handed opening batsman was the highest scorer for Virat Kohli-led team, which has Australia’s current and South Africa’s former captains- Aaron Finch and AB de Villiers.
In 2019, Padikkal not only went on to cement his spot in all 3 Karnataka teams as an opening batsman alongside the likes of KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal & Karun Nair, but also topped the run-scorers list in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50 over competition) & the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (domestic T20 competition).
“Focusing specifically on his T20 performances, Padikkal not only managed to not get out for a duck but also hit the most number of 6s in the competition”, Prad Navaratnam says.
“The size of the grounds becomes irrelevant when you realise the 2nd highest number of 6s hit was 22. Padikkal managed to hit 50% more sixes than the next best”.
“Padikkal is best analysed when compared against other batters with more significant experience — Dinesh Karthik (KKR), Suryakumar Yadav (MI), Nitish Rana (KKR) & Kedhar Jadhav (CSK) — and took their performance data from the same competition.These are players that are regular fixtures in their IPL teams.
“Padikkal has managed a feat not many batters are able to achieve. In cricket, usually there are players that are able to score fast or players that score consistently well. In Padikkal, Karnataka & RCB have a player that has shown the ability to do both”, Prad, who is a front runner for SLC’s Brain Centre observed.
Though Padikkal didn’t hit a sixer in his debut IPL innings of 56 runs, but Prad, though his Impakt Score algorithm has noted that the average number of 6s per innings for the Top 200 batsmen in the last 12 months was 1.13 and Padikkal averaged 2.75.
The Impakt Score algorithm is built to help rank every player according to their performance data and is made up of multiple performance metrics & calculations that look at a variety of measures including batting position, quality of bowlers faced, etc and then provide a single rating that I use to rank every batsman.
“Like the rest of the world, I can’t wait to watch him take on the big leagues in the not too distant future”, Navaratnam, signed off.
