Padikkal a great talent, one to look forward to in the future: Kohli

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli was all praise for Devdutt Paddikal after the youngster notched up his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) century during the 10-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Thursday (April 22). Kohli reckons the 20-year-old is a great talent and certainly one to watch out for in the future. 

Padikkal smashed an unbeaten 101 off 52 deliveries, which included 11 fours and six sixes.  "It was an outstanding innings. He (Devdutt) batted really well for his first season last time as well. There was a bit of a talk about accelerating after 40-50, this was the best way to put it to rest," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

"He is a great talent, a great one to look forward to in the future. I had the best seat in the house," he added.

Speaking of his role during the chase, Kohli said, "Tonight, my role was different and I wanted to hang in there. In the end, I picked my spots, the pitch was good. We spoke about it (the 100), he (Devdutt) said finish it off. He said (there could be )many more to come, I told him 'you tell me that after you get the first one."

Kohli also praised RCB's bowling attack, who managed to restrict RR to 177 for 9 on a good batting surface.  "We don't have many stand-out names in bowlers, but we have effective bowlers. Guys who can do it day in day out. Four out of four times we've been the stand-out team in the death overs. We actually restricted 30-35 runs. Dev's innings was outstanding, but for me the bowling which was aggressive, optimistic was key."

RR captain Sanju Samson, whose team have now lost three out of four matches feels his side needs to go back to the drawing board. 

"We need to do some homework and need an honest review about our batting. That's what this sport is all about, we keep on failing and we keep on coming about. It puts you down but you have to keep on fighting," Samson said.

RCB have now won four out of four for the first time in the IPL and no sot surprisingly, are at the top of the table. They next take on three-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday (April 25), while RR play Kolkata night Riders on Saturday (April 24) and will look to resurrect their fading IPL campaign.