Devdutt Padikkal's quiet corner turn

When Devdutt Padikkal walked out to bat in Chennai two weeks ago, the RCB-CSK fixture was veering towards familiar territory. The visitors had 45 in five overs, but Phil Salt, who had blasted 32 off those runs, had just been dismissed by Noor Ahmad. With Virat Kohli struggling for timing, CSK sensed their moment, eager to seize the middle overs with spin.

Ravindra Jadeja had the ball right after the PowerPlay. Padikkal dropped to his knees for a sweep first up, but met only humid air. He corrected the second time with a subtle shuffle to the off-side and placed the ball past a lumbering deep mid-wicket. MS Dhoni, animated, responded immediately, out went Khaleel Ahmed, in came Rahul Tripathi in that hot zone. Padikkal answered with another sweep, this time beating the more agile fielder square on the leg side.

Frustrated, Jadeja tossed one up. Padikkal stepped out, didn't quite get to the pitch, but swung through the line and cleared long-on. Something had shifted in that short 14-ball 27. Padikkal wasn't there to soak up pressure, he was there to redirect it. With a few shimmies and fearless swipes, he flipped a chokehold into a release valve.

There was a time not too long ago when Padikkal seemed purpose-built for both T20 cricket and RCB. He arrived in 2020 with a T20 strike-rate of 175 and capped his debut season with the Emerging Player of the Year award. But the IPL doesn't wait around for potential. After two middling seasons and drifting roles, Padikkal returned to RCB in 2025 with questions hovering. Six games in, he's not just found runs, he's found rhythm. And the sense of a corner being quietly turned.

His numbers don't leap out of the page: 119 runs at an average of 23.80 and a strike-rate of 140. Padikkal has also struck six sixes, which is six more than he'd managed last year. Because hat 2024 campaign was his lowest ebb: 38 runs from seven games for LSG, an average of 5.42, and a strike-rate of 71.69.

Expectedly, there were no early takers at the 2025 auction. But RCB brought him back late at his base price of INR 2 crore, a low-risk move in a high-stakes search for a left-handed top-order batter. Their priority had been Venkatesh Iyer, but when KKR pushed the bid to INR 23.75 crore, they pivoted. Even with right-handers like Salt and Patidar excelling against left-arm spin, a lefty was key to disrupting matchups and exploiting skewed square boundaries.

That strategic edge was evident at the Wankhede Stadium recently, where Will Jacks and Suryakumar Yadav were shackled by Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya. It wasn't until Tilak Varma arrived that MI's chase found lift-off. In the same game, Padikkal struck a breezy 22-ball 37 from No.3, ensuring the early momentum built by Kohli wasn't lost in transition.

At 24, Padikkal is reaping the rewards of clarity in role and technical fine-tuning behind the scenes with Dinesh Karthik and Andy Flower. The numbers reveal the transformation. His attacking shot percentage this season stands at 71.1%, his highest in the IPL. While his strike rate against spin (120) remains in his usual range, he's motoring at 159 against pace, also a career-best. Even more telling: his attacking intent percentage against both pace (67.3%) and spin (75%) as well as his first 10-ball strike-rate (125.5) is at an all-time high.

"The great thing about Dev is he's got a lot of batsmanship," RCB's Director of Cricket Mo Bobat said after RCB's win against Rajasthan Royals in which Padikkal chipped with a 28-ball 40*. "Like if you look at his record and what he's done, he knows how to build innings, [and] he knows how to bat long periods of time. People have probably seen the role that we've given him. He's been going out and trying to have a bit of an impact, which is great."

That Padikkal has slotted in so smoothly has also helped RCB settle on a combination unusually early in the season. A team known for its tinkering, RCB have used just 13 players so far, the fewest by any side in the league. Much of that stability stems from their important punt at No.3 paying off.

Because it's been a season for the No.3s. Nicholas Pooran, Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane have all showcased different shades of T20 dominance. Ishan Kishan hit an early hundred, Karun Nair showed his class in a brief return, and there have been calls at MI for Tilak Varma to reprise his India role. By most of those accounts, Padikkal isn't quite in the upper echelon yet. But as one of only two left-handers in a powerful right-heavy top eight, he offers balance. And if this is the tune he's beginning to hum, RCB will hope the crescendo is still to come.