“There’s bound to be competition” – Devdutt Padikkal on his fight against Venkatesh Iyer for a place in RCB’s XI
Devdutt Padikkal was RCB’s number three in IPL 2025 until he suffered a hamstring injury that ruled him out.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have a sedentary unit. The reigning Indian Premier League (IPL) champions have already put together a winning team. At most they should make slight changes. Resting players due to conditions, terrain, injury or managing workloads.
In the IPL 2026 auction, RCB managed to acquire replacements for injury-prone players or weak links. Josh Hazlewood missed a few games last season, so they got New Zealander Jacob Duffy. For Phil Salt, they got the batting of England wicketkeeper Jordan Cox. They acquired Mangesh Yadav, who could play if Yash Dayal cannot.
RCB’s enigma no. 3
But one spot that could be up for grabs could be third. Devdutt Padikkal batted there last season. The left-hander from Karnataka has increased his intent, with a strike rate of 150.60. An injury ended what proved to be a successful outing. But Padikkal showed what he could do.
RCB retained him. But in the auction, the defending champions acquired Venkatesh Iyer for INR 7 crore. The Madhya Pradesh all-rounder had a disappointing IPL 2025 season with Kolkata Knight Riders, but has an exceptional record in numbers, with an average of 43.23 and strike rate of 168.77.
Is Devdutt Padikkal worried about a place in RCB’s XI?
This creates a conundrum for RCB. Are you picking an established player in Padikkal or someone new in Venkatesh? Has management sent messages to either of them? Do they feel like they are fighting for the same place? InsideSport asked Devdutt Padikkal the same question in an exclusive chat.
The 25-year-old did not refute the idea that he and Venkatesh could be fighting for the same spot. But his vision is a little different. Padikkal does not want to focus on securing a place in the Playing XI, but hopes that he and Venkatesh will play to contribute and win matches for RCB.
“If you play in IPL, you are bound to have competition. Venky is a great player. I have played a lot of matches with him and against him. I am looking forward to having him in the team. I hope we both can contribute to the team’s success,” Padikkal told InsideSport.
RCB squad for IPL 2026
Virat Kohli, Phil Salt (wk)✈️, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Tim David✈️, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd✈️, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood✈️, Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Bethell✈️, Nuwan Ensure✈️, Rasikh Dar, Swapnil Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy✈️, Satvik Deswal, Mangesh Yadav, Jordon Cox (week)✈️, Kanishk Chouhan, Vihaan Malhotra, Vicky Ostwal
Editor’s Choice
Cricket predicted India playing XI for 2nd ODI against New Zealand: Nitish Reddy or Ayush Badoni, who will replace Sundar?
