Former Indian cricketer Dodda Ganesh lashed out at the selectors for leaving out Devdutt Padikkal from the squad for IND vs SA ODIs despite his prolific numbers in List A. The Karnataka batter found no place in the 15-man squad named by the selection committee for the three-match series that begins from November 30. Padikkal boasts of some incredible numbers in the 50-over format in domestic cricket but is yet to recieve a call-up to the Indian ODI side.
Does Devdutt Padikkal, averaging 79.65, deserve spot on ODIs?
Taking to social media platform X, Ganesh wondered if performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy really mattered after Padikkal was snubbed from the squad for IND vs SA ODIs. The former Indian cricketer pointed out that Devdutt had over 2000 runs from 32 List A matches and averaged close to 80. Ganesh expressed disappointment, pointing out that despite scoring 9 hundreds in List A cricket, Padikkal was still nowhere near the ODI team.
In 33 matches he has over 2000 runs, where he has scored 9 hundreds and 12 fifties. The strike-rate is also decent at 90. If we further break down his career — in his very first Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2019-20, he was the highest run-getter with 609 runs in 11 matches, at an average of 67.
Then the next year, in the same tournament, he came up with an unbelievable run, amassing 737 in 7 matches, at an average of 147. In the 2023-24 season, he scored 465 in 5 matches, at an average of 155. And in the last edition, it was 196 in three innings, at an average of 65.
India squad for IND vs SA ODIs
Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel
