Kohli overtaken as India star, snubbed after one Test vs AUS, makes Champions Trophy case with Vijay Hazare Trophy knock

The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee are reportedly waiting till the end of the Vijay Hazare Trophy to reveal the 15-member India squad for the Champions Trophy. But it seems each passing day in the white-ball domestic tournament is likely to add more and more selection headaches for the committee, the latest being Devdutt Padikkal, after another stellar knock in Vijay Hazare Trophy. The Karnataka batter, on Wednesday, notched up his seventh consecutive fifty-plus score in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to power his team to the final. Devdutt Padikkal played just one Test match during Australia tour

Karnataka’s chase of a manageable 238 began on a shaky note at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara, losing captain and top run-getter Mayank Agarwal in the first over itself, as pacer Anshul Kamboj’s low-slung delivery trapped him in front of the wicket.

However, Padikkal (86), who joined the Karnataka side after his return from the tour of Australia, where he played just one match, in Perth, combined impressively with Smaran (76) to stitch a 128-run stand for the third wicket as Karnataka chased down the target with 16 balls to spare, , making 238 for five.

Padikkal goes past Kohli

En route to the knock, Padikkal completed the milestone of 2000 runs in List A cricket. His average of 82.38 is now the highest in the history of the format among batters with a minimum of 2000 runs. He stands ahead second-placed Ruturaj Gaikwad (58.16) and few other modern-era greats in Michael Bevan (57.86), Virat Kohli (57.05) and AB de Villiers (53.47).

The left-hander also equalled his own streak of seven fifty-plus knocks in Vijay Hazare Trophy, thus matching his run in the 2021-22 season. His current streak spans two seasons with the score reading: 86, 102, 114, 93*, 70, 117 and 71*.

Padikkal rejoined the Karnataka side after the end of the Sydney Test match and smashed a 99-ball 102 in the quarterfinal match against Baroda. It was his first appearance in the format since 2023. He had earlier left for Australia during the first half of the Ranji Trophy tournament in October as part of the India A tour and impressed the senior team management with his knock of 88 in Mackay. He later appeared as an India No. 3 in the Perth opener of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series amid Shubman Gill's injury, and was not recalled into the playing XI after managing 0 and 25 in the match.

Albeit a long shot, but Padikkal certainly does make a case for a spot in the Champions Trophy squad as a back-up top-order batter. However, it remains he will have to compete against mainstay options Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, both of whom are currently vying for the primary opening spot in the potential playing XI for the tournament.

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