Devdutt Padikkal has amassed two fifties in two for RCB in the IPL 2026 at a blazing strike rate of 201.81.
The local star Devdutt Padikkal has kicked off the IPL 2026 with even more firepower, following the season of redemption with his home team, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). The franchise had finally clinched the elusive Indian Premier League (IPL) title last year, and the 25-year-old’s contributions played a significant part in it.
He had scored 247 runs in 10 group stage matches, striking at a fierce rate of 150.60, before getting ruled out with an unfortunate hamstring injury. But very few would have predicted a smashing IPL 2025 edition for Padikkal after his gradually declining stats with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) over the last three years.
“I moved to LSG for that one year, and that didn’t go great either. It was really hard. I felt that everything comes down to money. When a franchise is putting their faith in you in terms of that much money they are paying you, you feel like you are letting them down when you don’t perform. At that point, honestly, I didn’t have any answers either,” stated the batter in an RCB video.
Notably, the left-hander had a stunning debut IPL season for the Bengaluru outfits in 2020, notching up 473 runs in 15 appearances, laced with five fifty-plus knocks. Padikkal had also grabbed the Emerging Player award for his exceptional display throughout the edition. The youngster also backed this up with yet another 400-plus outing in the following season, which included a hundred and a half-century.
But during Padikkal’s initial two years of playing in the IPL, his strike rate remained around a sub-par 124-125, which soon became outdated with the evolution of T20 cricket. Amidst this, an IPL 2022 mega auction that introduced two new sides into the tournament, i.e., the Gujarat Titans (GT) and the LSG, also saw RCB releasing their own star.
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The Karnataka player never really looked in his old touch while donning the RR and LSG jerseys. After putting up 637 runs, including three fifty-plus knocks, in 28 matches for the Royals across two seasons, his strike rate deteriorated to just 71.69 during the IPL 2024, as the INR 7.75 crore recruit managed only 38 runs in seven innings for the Super Giants.
However, it was the latest mega auction when RCB brought the southpaw back in their squad for his base price of INR 2 crore, and the fans got to witness a different DDP in their championship-winning year. Following a blazing duo of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt at the top, he aced the spot of No. 3 with a strategic blend of composure and attack.
“I feel that auction was probably the turning point of my career in a lot of ways. I was at that stage of my career where I needed to really commit to the type of cricket I want to play, the kind of cricketer I wanted to be, and coming back to RCB paved my path towards the brand of cricket I wanted to play,” he noted.
Coming into the IPL 2026, there were also speculations over his place in a star-studded RCB line-up. The question was if the management would back the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder, Venkatesh Iyer, at No.3, considering his added seam-bowling skill. However, an astonishing 26-ball 61 from Padikkal in the IPL 2026 opener against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), followed by a brilliant half-century off 29 deliveries facing the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has put it to rest so far.
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