There have been scintillating individual batting performances in this season of the IPL already, with experts and fans calling for their inclusion in India’s T20I side. Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidars are among the players whose names are doing the rounds for selection in the India setup.
RCB mentor Dinesh Karthik too has pitched in stating that Padikkal’s performance this season would be hard for the selectors to ignore. However, former India opener Virender Sehwag had a different take on this matter.
Sehwag says the current India T20I side is packed and there is no place for players like Padikkal, Patidar or even Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Who would you drop to accommodate these players? he asked.
“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?” he added.
India’s T20I team has developed into one of the strongest sides ever in the format. They have won back-to-back T20 World Cups in 2024 and 2026 and under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy, they are yet to lose a T20I series.
Padikkal has been in excellent form in IPL 2026, scoring 208 runs in just six innings. He has already hit three impressive half-centuries and has stood out with a strike rate of over 184.
He has played two T20Is and two Tests for India, but his last appearance in the T20 format at the international level came almost five years ago.
