'Kept putting him back on strike': Kohli hails Padikkal's 'phenomenal' knock

Sunrisers Hyderabad had a small window of opportunity on the opening night of IPL 2026. They had posted 201, and when Jaydev Unadkat dismissed Phil Salt with the first ball of the second over, that window creaked open further. In walked Devdutt Padikkal as the Impact Sub.

Padikkal flicked the first ball he received—a length delivery angling into his pads—over long leg for six. Over the next 10 balls, he hit two more sixes and three fours, racing to 34 and seizing control of the chase.

"He came in, hit the first ball for six, struck it over 200, took on all bowlers, and allowed Virat to settle into his innings. The impetus he showed was the real difference," admitted SRH head coach Daniel Vettori after the defeat.

Padikkal's shots told their own story: stepping out to carve a wide ball over deep point, moving across to pull a short delivery past midwicket, and clipping a slower ball over long-on. It was the display of a player in commanding form, built on a stellar domestic season.

In the Ranji Trophy, he scored 543 runs at 60.33, including a double-century in the semi-finals. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he amassed 725 runs at 90.62 with four hundreds. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he blazed 309 runs at a strike rate of 167.02.

RCB had challenged him for the No. 3 spot by acquiring Venkatesh Iyer for INR 7 crore at the auction. However, Padikkal's T20 turnaround had been visible since last year, where he made 247 runs in ten innings at a strike rate of 150.6 before a hamstring injury. This marked a sharp recovery from 2024, when he managed just 38 runs in seven games for Lucknow Super Giants.

By the end of his innings, Padikkal had scored 61 off 26 balls in a 101-run stand with Virat Kohli, turning the chase into a procession.

"I had plans of going aggressive in the powerplay," Kohli said after the game. "But when I saw him play, I thought, keep putting him back on strike and hit the odd boundary. He completely took the game away from the opposition.

"His knock was tremendous. I've seen him at close quarters, and the skill he has—now he's applying it. This is on the back of a great domestic season. His timing, head position, and balance were phenomenal, absolutely world class. I know what he can do when he's confident, and tonight was a display of his sheer talent."