It's a very important part – Devdutt Padikkal on IPL's influence in his cricketing story

Devdutt Padikkal returned to RCB in 2025 for a second stint with the franchise. However, it didn’t start smoothly for the youngster four years ago. When he first came to RCB in 2021, he had a lot to look forward to, playing alongside Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

Speaking on the RCB Bold Diaries, Devdutt Padikkal opened up about how he worked on his technique in the earlier days. He also highlighted how the IPL is embedded in the minds of Indians. He took a stroll down memory lane to emphasize how being with the game's stalwarts helped his confidence.

Shedding light on his first stint in the IPL, Padikkal said, “Early days for me was quite simple actually. It was about, you know, getting your basics right. You spend a lot of time over your career, you know, refining your technique, finding different ways to bat. And when you do that, it's very important that you have that base set properly because it's very easy to then forget about the base and, you know, really complicate your batting a lot more.”

Pinpointing the importance of the IPL, Padikkal added, “You cannot ignore IPL, especially growing up in India, it's a very important part of your cricketing journey because everyone is watching this tournament. It's a very big platform for anyone aspiring to play any level of cricket to come out here and perform. The first couple of seasons were everything I could ask for, you know, scoring runs, playing alongside greats like Virat, greats like AB. They just gave me so much confidence in my own abilities.”