Padikkal stated that sharing the crease with Virat Kohli gave him a lot of clarity and understanding which eventually impacted his growth. Notably, the 25-year-old scored an impressive 473 runs in 15 matches on his debut season which helped him win the Emerging Player of the season award
Published: May 22, 2026 2:23 PM IST
Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Devdutt Padikkal credited former franchise captain and teammate Virat Kohli for his development as a batter on his debut Indian Premier League season back in 2020. The left-hand batter, who is in a very good form in IPL 2026, has been a major revelation for RCB over the last two seasons.
In fact, Devdutt Padikkal had played a massive role in helping the South Indian franchise end their 18-year wait to win the IPL title last year after beating Punjab Kings in the final by just 6 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium. This year, too, Padikkal has been a major contributor in RCB’s potential title defense.
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The reigning champions have already confirmed their spot in the playoffs and tonight if they beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad, in what is going to be both the team’s final league outing, then Bengaluru will finish at the summit of the table with the most (20) points, meaning even if they lose Qualifier 1, they will have a second shot at reaching the finale.
Devdutt Padikkal says playing with Virat Kohli helped him understand how to build an innings
Ahead of Bengaluru’s final league outing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, Devdutt Padikkal sat down to have a chat with IPL’s official broadcasters – JioStar. Therein, Padikkal credited Virat Kohli for helping him understand how to build an innings on his debut season with RCB.
Not only that, Padikkal stated that sharing the crease with the former RCB captain also gave him a lot of clarity and understanding which eventually impacted his growth. Notably, the 25-year-old scored an impressive 473 runs in 15 matches on his debut season which helped him win the Emerging Player of the season award and it happened all because of the zeal to give his 100% whenever given the chance to play.
“When I made my IPL debut with RCB in the 2020 season, I felt ready. I had a solid run of scores in domestic cricket behind me. So, I knew that when my chance came, I would be fully switched on and give 100 per cent. And batting with Virat Kohli, one of the greatest in the game, was a huge help. At that age, watching him build an innings gave me so much clarity and understanding of how to construct a knock. That made a big difference in my growth.” – Devdutt Padikkal said in the JioStar show.
Dinesh Karthik and Andy Flower’s help
But it wasn’t all roses and daffodils for Devdutt Padikkal in the seasons to follow as the Kerala-born batter underwent a slight slump in his form with the left-hander not being able to replicate his red-ball form in the IPL.
In the 2021 season, despite scoring 411 runs in 14 matches, Padikkal was released by the RCB during the 2022 mega auction where he was picked by the Rajasthan Royals. He spent two seasons with RR, scoring 376 (2022) and 261 (2023) runs respectively before being released ahead of the 2024 auction where he was bought by the Lucknow Super Giants.
However, Padikkal ended up experiencing his worst IPL season, scoring just 38 runs in 7 outings. That prompted LSG to release the left-hander for the 2025 season’s mega auction where RCB bought him back on his base price (2 crores). Upon his return, he spent long hours at the nets along with Bengaluru’s mentor Dinesh Karthik and head coach Andy Flower in order to improve his batting technique.
It was during the 2025 season that Devdutt Padikkal made necessary adjustments in his batting for a smoother transition from red-ball to white-ball cricket. He stated that breaking away from his fixed template was a major reason why he was able to contribute heavily with the bat for RCB in their title winning season last year.
I made several 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’s not easy because both formats demand different technical approaches. So, I worked on those technical adjustments. In earlier seasons, I had a fixed template for starting my innings. I had to break away from that and try a different approach. Once I did that, the results started showing.” – Padikkal concluded.
In the on-going 2026 IPL season, Devdutt Padikkal has already surpassed his tally from last season, scoring 412 runs in 13 matches at a career best strike rate of 173.11.
