Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen Devdutt Padikkal Has been one of the best performing players in IPL 2026. The fresh southpaw has been a revelation as a reliable presence at number three for the defending champions.
He has scored 412 runs in 12 innings with three half-centuries in the 2026 season, and is coming off a dominant season in the domestic circuit. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the 2025–26 Vijay Hazare Trophy with 725 runs at an average of 90.62. He scored 543 runs at an average of 60.33 in the latter stages of the Ranji Trophy, helping Karnataka reach the final.
The Karnataka cricketer scored four centuries and two half-centuries in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and played a marathon inning of 232 runs in the semi-final against Uttarakhand in the Ranji Trophy.
Padikkal talked about the work he did with coach Andy Flower and batting coach Dinesh Karthik in making the necessary technical adjustments to make a smooth transition from red-ball to white-ball cricket.
“I made a lot of changes to my batting technique with the help of Dinesh Karthik and Andy Flower. I needed to adjust a few things to shift from red-ball to white-ball cricket. It is not easy as both the formats demand different technical approaches. So, I worked on those technical adjustments,” Padikkal said while speaking on JioStar.
The most notable thing about this player born in Coorg in 2026 is his strike rate of 173.10. He has played with a lot of aggressive intent, which is reflected in his batting. He has struck at a rate of 183.5 against pace, but perhaps his biggest improvement is his strike rate of 152.5 against spin, which is higher than his 131.6 in 2025. He said that he worked on his intention to score runs, breaking his set template and trying to score runs on every ball.
He said, “Mentally, I had to bring more intention into my game. In the first season, I had a certain template to start my innings. I had to break away from that and try a different approach. I needed to go out with the mindset of scoring runs on every ball. Once I did that, the results started showing.”
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