Stats: 19-year-old Devdutt Padikkal scores 122* in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy

Devdutt Padikkal is going through a purple patch with the bat in the ongoing season which began with the Karnataka Premier League in August. The 19-year-old was the top-scorer in the tournament with 310 runs from 8 innings with help of four fifties including one in the final. He followed it with exploits in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for his state team Karnataka. The left-hander finished as leading run-getter in this tournament as well.

Devdutt amassed 609 runs from 11 innings with help of two hundreds and five fifties as Karnataka lifted the title. Padikkal continued the intensity into the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy starting with an unbeaten fifty against Uttarakhand. The game was marked to be his T20 debut where he finished with a 33-ball 53*. In the following game, the youngster departed for only five runs in the 197-run chase against Baroda which brought an end to Karnataka’s record 15-match winning streak.

A similar result seemed to be on the cards for the Karnataka team against Andhra as they lost both their openers by 2nd over chasing 185. Padikkal took the aggressive route adding 63 for the 3rd wicket alongside Krishnappa Gowtham in only 4.3 overs. With Shreyas Gopal, he shared a 64-run stand for the 5th wicket in seven overs. Devdutt alone scored 53 runs in those as he brought up his fifty in 24 balls and took another 23 deliveries to notch his maiden Twenty20 hundred.

He finished unbeaten on 122 from 60 balls with 13 fours and 7 sixes as Karnataka won by 5 wickets with 7 balls to spare. Devdutt Padikkal was only 19 years and 127 days old on Monday which makes him the 3rd youngest player to score a century in Syed Mushtaq Ali. Vijay Zol holds this record having scored 109 against Mumbai in 2013 when he was 18 only.

The knock of 122* by Devdutt is also the highest while chasing in the tournament history surpassing Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 116 for Delhi in the 2017/18 edition game against Himachal. In fact, the unbeaten 122 by the Karnataka batsman is also the highest by an Indian during a T20 run-chase. The previous highest was 120* by Paul Valthaty for Kings XI Punjab in the 2011 IPL against the Chennai Super Kings.

(Stats on November 11, 2019)