former indian cricketer Abhinav Mukund He believes that Royal Challengers Bangalore should continue to support Devdutt Padikkal at the No. 3 position ahead of the Indian Premier League 2026. The defending champions face a crucial decision regarding their batting order, especially as they aim to include a left-handed batsman after their opening pair.
RCB secured Venkatesh Iyer for Rs 7 crore in the mini-auction and brought Padikkal back to his base price in the IPL 2025 mega auction despite his stellar performances last season. However, Padikkal showed promise, scoring 247 runs at an impressive strike rate of 150.61 before his campaign was cut short due to injury. Mukund has urged the franchise to stick with Padikkal, citing his recent progress in domestic cricket.
“At the time of the auction last year, Venkatesh Iyer's shares were probably at 10, and Devdutt Padikkal's shares were at 2. Now the roles have reversed. Devdutt had a fantastic season. He is knocking on the door of Indian team cricket. He had a very good season for RCB. So for me, Venkatesh Iyer doesn't start. I am with Devdutt Padikkal,” Mukund said on ESPNcricinfo. I will start.”
Faf du Plessis highlighted how RCB's trust in Padikkal has allowed him to play with freedom and confidence. The left-handed batsman enjoyed a brilliant domestic season, and finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy with 725 runs in nine innings at an impressive average of 90.62. Padikkal also shone in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 309 runs in six innings at an average of 61.80 and a strike rate of 167.08.
Du Plessis said, “The question around him is about that strike rate, right? Last year you could see there was a lot of discussion about increasing the strike rate, going in and playing the game, going forward. There was a lot of confidence from the leadership group to push him because that was not his natural game.”
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