IPL 2021: Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal opening combo excites RCB's Mike Hesson

The Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL 2021) season is set to commence on April 9 in Chennai. The opening match will be played between defending champions Mumbai Indians and the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The RCB franchise will have a new opening combo this season in the form of captain Kohli and rising star Devdutt Padikkal.

RCB opening batsmen IPL 2021: Mike Hesson looking forward to new combo

Virat Kohli opened the innings for India alongside his deputy Rohit Sharma in the fifth T20I against England. Both batsmen slammed sparkling half-centuries as the ‘Men in Blue’ went on to win the match and the series by a 3-2 margin. After India’s win, Kohli confirmed that he will also be opening the innings for the RCB in the upcoming IPL 2021 season.

As part of RCB’s ‘Bold Diaries’, the franchise recently shared a two-minute video on their social media platforms. In the video, RCB’s Director of cricket operations Mike Hesson said that he is looking forward to seeing Virat opening the batting with young Devdutt Padikkal. He was of the opinion that their left-right combination will be beneficial for the side.

Hesson was also all praise for captain Virat Kohli, saying he is a “phenomenal” player especially after getting through the powerplay overs. He added that if Kohli “bats at the top, it's a slightly different structure and as I said, that helped determine our auction planning as well”. Even though the RCB skipper revealed his opening plans after India’s T20I series win, Hesson stated that it was something they had been planning about even before the IPL 2021 auction.

Mike Hesson speaks about RCB opening batsmen IPL 2021, watch video

RCB 2021 campaign: Team and schedule

On January 20, the RCB franchise retained 14 of their stars from the previous edition of the league. The following month, they further enhanced their squad with new additions in the form of Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson and uncapped Indian cricketers like KS Bharat and Rajat Patidar. Here is a list of all RCB players slated to participate in the upcoming IPL 2021 season.

RCB 2021 players list

Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Josh Philippe, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahmed, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Sachin Baby, Kyle Jamieson, KS Bharat, Rajat Patidar, Dan Christian, Suyash Prabhudessai and Finn Allen.

RCB players schedule for IPL 2021

Image source: IPLT20.COM