Devdutt Padikkal shines in Vijay Hazare Trophy, gives hopes for Champions Trophy amidst selection headaches

Devdutt Padikkal has stamped his claim for a place in the forthcoming Champions Trophy side as he carried on his good run with a huge knock in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. On Wednesday, Padikkal reached the milestone of scoring his seventh successive fifty-plus score, which further solidifies his position as one of India's brightest young talents in the white-ball format. This feat has come at a time when the selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, is reportedly waiting until the end of the Vijay Hazare Trophy to finalize the 15-member squad for the prestigious Champions Trophy.

His latest knock, 86 runs in the semifinal, took Karnataka to the final of the tournament. His innings helped his team chase down the target of 238, a chase that was tricky at the start after Karnataka's captain Mayank Agarwal was caught out by the pacer Anshul Kamboj in the first over of the chase in front of the wicket. However, Padikkal, who had just come back from a tour of Australia, was solid, and his crucial contribution came at a time when the innings was stabilizing with a 128-run stand for the third wicket with Smaran (76 runs) to ensure a win for Karnataka by 16 balls to spare.

Padikkal's knock was not only important for the match but also helped the player achieve an important individual milestone. With a score of 2000 in List A cricket, he broke past established stars like Virat Kohli who is averaging 57.05 throughout his career. Padikkal's average has now reached 82.38, which is the best in List A cricket history by batters scoring at least 2000 runs. That catapults him a notch above those remarkable cricketers, such as 58.16 by Ruturaj Gaikwad, 57.86 by Michael Bevan, and 53.47 by AB de Villiers, hence makes a huge jump in his cricketing career.

Padikkal is no rookie to consistency because he equalled his own seven successive fifty-plus knocks in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in which he made the same in the 2021-22 season. His run of scoring two seasons puts in the lines of 86, 102, 114, 93*, 70, 117, and 71*. And it is making Padikkal one of the most reliable men for domestic cricket. He cannot deny his capabilities to hold back the form extendedly. Selectors can be noticed at Padikkal also.

Padikkal has been back since returning from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, in which he played a solitary Test match from Australia. His brief stint with the Indian team did get him into Perth Test after Shubman Gill got injured. He did not make a contribution as such, scoring just 0 and 25; that got him out of the playing XI. Yet, form for Padikkal has been spectacular since returning to domestic cricket. In his first game after the Australia tour, he hammered 102 off 99 balls in the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal against Baroda, thus having a good return to the format.

While the inclusion of Padikkal in the Champions Trophy may seem a distant dream, the case for his inclusion certainly sounds compelling, at least as an insurance cover to the top order. The selection committee also has the trouble of choosing amongst a few opening hopefuls between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, who in the potential Champions Trophy playing XI are currently rivals for the job. Both these youngsters have gone on a fabulous run of play, but pressure is building on his form as his recent form was going great so far.

This can be stated with immense confidence. Even if this is going to be an attrition of choices for Champions Trophy, Padikkal has pretty much been presented his case well through outstanding performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, either through consistency or stats. So Padikkal now looks quite alright to make that cut to bust into fray of the scene of the selectors whenever their difficult choice lies in waiting very soon.