Devdutt Padikkal delivered another special moment in domestic cricket on Monday, January 12, as he burst into the limelight with a historic feat in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26. Devdutt Padikkal became the first batsman to score 700 or more runs in two different seasons of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Devdutt Padikkal created history in Vijay Hazare Trophy
Karnataka opener Devdutt Padikkal reached the milestone during the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 quarter-final against Mumbai at the BCCI Center of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru on Monday. Devdutt Padikkal needed 60 runs to cross the 700-run mark this season and he reached there in the 24th over of Karnataka’s innings.
During his match-winning innings of 81*, Padikkal moved into a league of his own, as no other batsman has scored 700+ runs twice in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The 25-year-old batsman had achieved the same feat in the 2020-21 season when he scored 737 runs in 7 innings for Karnataka.
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Only a few players have crossed the 700-run mark in a Vijay Hazare Trophy season, including Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Narayan Jagadeesan, Karun Nair and Padikkal himself. But now, Padikkal is the only player to do so in two different versions.
Keep an eye on the big VHT record
Now, Padikkal is on the verge of breaking Narayan Jagadeesan’s record (830) for most runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy season. The left-handed batsman was also India’s leading run scorer twice in the premier 50-over tournament. Now, he has a few matches left to repeat this feat thrice.
Incredible Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 season for Padikkal
The ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 has been a remarkable one for the Karnataka batsman. Padikkal has so far scored four centuries and two half-centuries. He started the campaign against Jharkhand with a brilliant innings of 147 runs in 118 balls. He continued his fine form with 124 runs in Karnataka’s second Elite Group A match against Kerala.
Although Padikkal managed a low score of 22 against Tamil Nadu, he bounced back in style in the tournament by scoring two more centuries in consecutive matches against Puducherry and Tripura, scoring 113 and 108 respectively.
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In the match against Rajasthan on 6 January, the RCB star missed another century, being out for 91. Then, he scored 35 off 39 balls against Madhya Pradesh in Karnataka’s final Elite Group A match in the 50-over tournament. On Monday, he scored 81* runs against Mumbai.
Learning through batting positions
Recently, the Karnataka star admitted that the current season feels different as batting at different venues has made him learn more about his game.
ESPN Cricinfo quoted Devdutt Padikkal as saying, “When you start batting in different positions, you learn a lot about your game. I think in cricket, it is important to understand your game from the inside; only then you can perform at your best.”
Batting at different positions has helped me understand what areas I need to focus on at different stages of the game, and that has helped me improve my innings over the years.