Karnataka batsman Devdutt Padikkal once again dazzled in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26, but he missed a century by nine runs in the 59th match of the tournament against Rajasthan at the Gujarat College Ground in Ahmedabad on January 6.
Devdutt Padikkal’s knock which created history
Devdutt Padikkal was in great form from the start against Rajasthan, but Manav Suthar clean bowled him for 91 runs and missed out on scoring his fifth century in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26. The brilliant left-handed batsman made a slow start but picked up the pace after coming to an agreement with Mayank Agarwal.
Karnataka’s openers laid the foundation of a big score against Rajasthan in the current match by scoring 184 runs in 171 balls. Before losing his wicket, Padikkal hit 12 fours and two sixes during his brilliant innings against Rajasthan in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
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A season of sheer dominance: Devdutt Padikkal by the numbers
Devdutt Padikkal’s performance in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 has been nothing short of extraordinary. He has led his Karnataka cricket team with calm authority and impeccable timing, turning the Vijay Hazare Trophy into his personal stage to dominate with ease.
His scores in the tournament tell the whole story of his dominance. He started the campaign with a brilliant innings of 147 runs in 118 balls. After this he scored 124 runs in 137 balls in the second match. After an innings of 22 runs in the third match, the RCB batsmen returned with three more big innings.
Here’s how Padikkal’s scores reflect his continued dominance in VHT 2025-26:
Match 1: 147 runs on 118 balls; Karnataka defeated Jharkhand by 5 wickets.
Match 2: 124 runs off 137 balls; Karnataka defeated Kerala by 8 wickets.
Match 3: 22 runs off 12 balls; Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu by 4 wickets.
Match 4: 113 runs off 116 balls; Karnataka defeated Puducherry by 67 runs.
Match 5: 108 runs off 120 balls; Karnataka defeated Tripura by 80 runs.
Match 6: 91 runs off 82 balls (match in progress)
This run took the RCB batsman’s List A career to 13 centuries and 13 fifties in just 38 innings. Now he has more than 2600 runs in his name in List A cricket.
Historical record: First to score 600+ runs in three editions
With his brilliant innings against Rajasthan, Padikkal has become the first batsman in the history of Vijay Hazare Trophy to score more than 600 runs in three different editions.
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The Karnataka batsman had scored 600+ runs in the 2019-20 season, repeated the feat in 2020-21 and has now once again crossed the 600-run mark in the current season, becoming the first player in the history of Vijay Hazare Trophy to do so.
Devdutt Padikkal VHT’s juggernaut continues. He has become the first batsman to score 600+ runs in three different matches #VijayJaareTrophy season’s.
– Lalit Kalidas (@lal__kal) 6 January 2026
Class, consistency, still no chance for Padikkal in India
Padikkal has continued to raise his bar with every innings, milestones have become routine for him in List A cricket. Even on a day when he missed out on a century, he reminded everyone why he is one of the most reliable and classy batsmen in domestic cricket, yet the selectors overlooked this aggressive batsman for the upcoming three-match ODI series against New Zealand.
Despite his excellent consistency in domestic cricket, Padikkal is yet to make his ODI debut and has not been recalled to the Indian team since 2024. He has played only two Tests and two T20 matches for the country so far.
