Devdutt Padikkal Has revealed that he has always had a special love for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Before IPL 2025, Padikkal had performed for RCB in 2020 and 2021. He is one of the 17 RCB members who were retained ahead of the IPL 2026 auction.
The left-handed batsman described the feeling as “strange” while playing for other franchises in the IPL. He also admitted that since childhood, he wanted RCB to perform to the best of its ability.
“It was strange. My friends and family were supporting me. It was always a bit strange coming to play for other teams against RCB. Obviously, I am still motivated in the same way in terms of performing and doing something for the franchise I was playing for. But I have always had a soft spot for RCB and I always look at their games as games that I love to watch and also see them perform well,” Padikkal told RCB. shared while talking on the podcast.
Padikkal also reflected on the feeling of not being able to play against Chinnaswamy during his first two seasons with the franchise due to COVID-19 restrictions.
He said, “I always wanted to play opposite Chinnaswamy in the IPL and whenever I have come here and played for other teams, to be honest, it has never been the same. It never felt the same in terms of doing it for RCB. When I was at RCB earlier, unfortunately we could not have the matches, so it was quite sad.”
rcb Padikkal's third season with them broke their title drought. He scored 247 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 150.60. Virat Kohli and Josh Hazlewood were the standout performers for the Bengaluru-based franchise.
Padikkal recently represented Karnataka in the 2025 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and finished as the second leading run-scorer with 309 runs in six matches at an impressive average of 167.02, hitting 36 fours and 12 sixes.
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