Navdeep Saini Extends Birthday Wishes to ‘Brother’ Devdutt Padikkal

Wishes pour in from all corners of India as young Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman Devdutt Padikkal turned 21 on Wednesday. Padikkal is currently in Sri Lanka for men in blue’s white-ball series, which is slated to kick off on July 13. Padikkal’s RCB teammate and ace Indian seamer Navdeep Saini was among the first to extend his greetings to the Karnataka batsman on his special day. Sharing a snap of them from the team’s training session, Saini wrote, “Happy birthday Brother.”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also marked Padikkal’s special day by sharing a video of the youngster from his training session on its official Twitter handle.“30 seconds of the birthday boy timing the ball to perfection in the nets. Happy birthday, Devdutt Padikkal,” read the caption on the post.

The fans were also happy to see Padikkal timing the ball perfectly in the net and extended their wishes to the left-handed batsman in the comment box.“Happy Birthday Padikkal, On your birthday I wish you success and endless happiness!. Wishing you an awesome birthday! My mother and you Are very lucky, who have Share their birthday with legends like #MSDhoni,” a user wrote on the post.

“He has #YuvrajSingh resemblance in his batting,” read another comment on the post.

India’s tour of Sri Lanka is Padikkal’s debut tour with the national team. BCCI has sent two different teams on two tours,simultaneously. While the likes of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma are currently in England for a five-match Test series against England, Saini, Padikkal along with several other players are in Sri Lanka for the limited-overs tour.

Padikkal is currently in red-hot form. While he amassed 737 runs for Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he scored 195 runs for RCB in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 before the tournament was suspended. The cash-rich league is slated to resume in the United Arab Emirates later this year.

Padikkal’s consistency in the domestic circuit earned him his maiden nation call up. He recently put up a 60-run stand with Prithvi Shaw during the team’s intra-squad simulation match. Padikkal is also expected to make his national debut during the Sri Lanka series.

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