Devdutt Padikkal has been in tremendous form.
RCB mentor and batting coach Dinesh Karthik has backed Devdutt Padikkal to break into the Indian team after his recent improvements and sublime form in IPL 2026. Padikkal has continued his good run for RCB and came up with another fifty against CSK last night, accumulating 50 runs at a strike rate of 172.41, with five boundaries and two maximums, on what was a tacky wicket at the start.
ALSO READ:
Following the game’s conclusion, Karthik had a chat with the official broadcasters, Star Sports, where he was full of praise for the Karnataka batter. He went on to say that Padikkal is too good to keep out of the Indian team at the moment.
“Devdutt Padikkal is in a different zone currently. You cannot keep him out of the Indian team for long if he continues like this.”
Padikkal has represented India in two Tests and as many T20Is, the last of which came in 2024 during the away Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. He has been around the Test setup, with a spot in recent squads, but opportunities haven’t come consistently for the southpaw despite being one of the top performers across domestic competitions.
India have backed several players ahead of Devdutt Padikkal at No.3 since Shubman Gill’s shuffle to No.4 after taking over as Test captain. Sai Sudharsan has been leading the race with six matches, followed by Karun Nair (2) and Washington Sundar (1) since the England tour last year.
However, none of them could inspire enough confidence, especially Sudharsan, who has shown obvious issues with spin due to indecisive foot movement on Asian decks. Hence, India will be tempted to replace him with Padikkal, who not only brings superior spin skills but has also improved massively against pace.
At this moment, he remains among the best spin players around the circuit and has piled on run after run in domestic red-ball tournaments. India will play several key World Test Championship (WTC) matches on spinning decks in Sri Lanka and at home after this IPL, and their performances on turning tracks have been below par for a while now.
They faced whitewash against New Zealand and South Africa, where spinners ran riot and exposed Indian batters’ fragile technique against slow bowlers, particularly on not-so-batting-friendly decks. Devdutt Padikkal has played on all kinds of pitches for Karnataka and rightly deserves a place in the XI now, given his recent form and solid technique in handling spinners effectively after his latest improvements at No.3.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
