Much like every season, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign has seen several Indian players make a case for national selection. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) stars Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar have impressed heavily, leading to many experts and fans calling for their entrance into the Indian team. RCB mentor Dinesh Karthik has been one of those, stating that Padikkal's sensational form would make it very hard for the BCCI selection committee to ignore him. However, legendary India opener Virender Sehwag expressed disagreement, raising a different perspective.
Sehwag suggested that there is no place in the Indian T20I side for players like Padikkal, Patidar or even Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal, as the current national side is extremely strong.
"Dinesh Karthik is saying that Padikkal should play for India, but every season players emerge who feel that they should play for India. But where is the space in the Indian team?" said Sehwag, speaking on Cricbuzz.
"There is no place for Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Devdutt Padikkal, and there are many more players. There is no place for Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal. There are five players who are scoring runs, but who will you drop for them? Where is the space?" Sehwag added.
India's T20I team has grown into arguably the strongest T20I side of all time, winning two T20 World Cups in a row, in 2024 and 2026. Under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, India have not lost a single T20I series till date.
Padikkal has had a superb IPL 2026 campaign, slamming 208 runs in just six innings. He has already slammed three swashbuckling half-centuries in that period. What has been even more impressive is his strike-rate of over 184.
Padikkal has represented India twice in T20Is and twice in Tests, but his last international appearance in the shortest format came nearly five years ago.
from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/HfAi8xP
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