While Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are the defending champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and looking like the early favorites to lift the title for the second year in a row, no member of their team was part of the Indian squad that won the 2026 T20 World Cup last month. However, the franchise’s batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik had backed the franchise’s number three batter to soon play for the national team across formats.
Karthik lavished praise on Devdutt Padikkal, who has started the 2026 season in style with two half-centuries in a row. The former Indian cricketer claimed it will not be possible for the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee to ignore him for a long period. He even backed him to play Test cricket.
“He doesn’t, in our eyes, slip under the radar.First and foremost is his determination. He is very, very determined in what he sets out to do. On a pitch like this, when a batter doesn’t get going-especially after playing an innings like he did in the first game-it is very easy to go for a big shot and throw it away. You feel like you are batting well and just need to connect one, but that often leads to something unnecessary. The courage. He showed when the going was tough at the start what is truly admirable. Once he found his first boundary, he flipped the switch.”
“He is batting in such a manner that I am not sure you can keep him out of the Indian team for too long. He is playing proper cricketing shots and striking the ball cleanly over distance. He is a proper Test player and has accumulated more than 2,000 runs this season,” said Karthik in an interaction with JioStar.
Padikkal had an incredible season in domestic cricket this season. He was the second-highest run-getter in the 2025–26 Vijay Hazare Trophy with 725 runs in nine matches at an average of 98.23 with four centuries. He played a key role in helping Karnataka reach the Ranji Trophy final with 543 runs in 10 innings at an average of 76.47 with two centuries.
The 25-year-old has not played for India in any format since the Perth Test during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was part of the squad for the home Test series against West Indies and South Africa but did not get included in the playing XI in any of the four games.
Why RCB Does Not Have Players In Indian Squad?
Among the RCB squad, Virat Kohli is a regular in India’s ODI team while he has retired from Test and T20I cricket. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is among the best pacers the country has seen, but he has been out of the scheme of things across formats since November 2022.
Moreover, Jitesh Sharma was part of the T20I squad till December but dropped from the T20 World Cup team in a shock last-minute call, which led to the inspired selection of Ishan Kishan. RCB skipper Rajat Patidar has not played for India since February 2024. He has only played 1 ODI and three Tests in his career.
