Samson: Padikkal at No. 4 was to counter left-arm spin and legspin in the middle overs

“He has been with us from the last two seasons. Lots and lots of work has gone behind him,” Samson said. “Credit to our team management, especially Zubin Bharucha [Director of High Performance at Royals]. When you come to the IPL, you generally have a week’s camp. But these guys put in lots of work, I think it was around five to six weeks [of preparation]. Before every domestic tournament, they come over to our academy and hit thousands and thousands of balls. Very happy the way he batted and to have someone like him in the team.”