Former pacer slams selectors as Devdutt Padikkal misses ODI spot

Devdutt Padikkal snub: Since Gautam Gambhir became the head coach and Ajit Agarkar the chief selector, there have been constant changes in the team, and some players who have performed well in domestic cricket are not getting opportunities. Amidst this, former Indian cricketer Dodda Ganesh has strongly criticised the selectors for excluding Devdutt Padikkal from the ODI series against South Africa, despite his stellar performance in List A cricket. The Karnataka batsman has not been included in the 15-member squad for the three-match series starting November 30. Padikkal has performed exceptionally well in the 50-over format in domestic cricket.

Devdutt Padikkal is the rightful claimant for a place in ODIs

Dodda Ganesh expressed his surprise, questioning if his performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy truly matters, yet Devdutt Padikkal was still not selected for the ODI series against South Africa. The former Indian cricketer highlighted that Devdutt has scored over 2000 runs in 32 List A matches with an average of around 80. Ganesh expressed his disappointment, stating that despite scoring 9 centuries in List A cricket, Padikkal is still nowhere near the ODI team.

Padikkal's performance in List A matches

It is worth noting that he has scored 2071 runs in 32 List A matches. During this period, he has hit 9 centuries and 12 half-centuries. His strike rate of 90 is also decent. Looking further into his career, in his debut Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2019-20, he was the highest run-scorer with 609 runs in 11 matches at an average of 67.

The following year, in the same tournament, he was exceptional. He scored 737 runs in 7 matches at an average of 147. In the 2023-24 season, he scored 465 runs in 5 matches at an average of 155. In the previous edition, he scored 196 runs in three innings at an average of 65.

Indian team selected for the ODI series

Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (Wicketkeeper and Captain), Rishabh Pant (Wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, and Dhruv Jurel.