An absolute beast – Dinesh Karthik opens up on Devdutt Padikkal’s latest avatar for RCB

Devdutt Padikkal has been a gem of an addition to the RCB side. His reintroduction to the Red and Gold brigade has added a new layer of dominance at No.3 in the batting order. However, that exactly wasn’t how he started. He had to go through the ups and downs and, more importantly, figure out how to become the monster that he is today.

That is where Dinesh Karthik’s rendezvous with Padikkal worked out perfectly for the hard-hitting southpaw. RCB's batting coach and mentor, Karthik opened up on how he first met Devdutt, the indelible impression he left on everyone and how opening alongside Virat Kohli was.

Talking on the latest episode of RCB Bold Diaries, DK said, “So my first instance where I met Devdutt was in domestic cricket. We played against each other. And you could see, the talent always existed. You can talk about skills, but for me, what stood out straight away is his ability to adapt to the next level. He was opening with Virat Kohli, and he almost stamped his authority with the way they formed the partnership.”

Karthik also shed light on how the initial work for DDP started at RCB while pointing out the fact that Padikkal is a lot more different from when he initially played for RCB. DK said, “The work started after that. Devdutt Padikkal coming into 2025 was a very different Devdutt Padikkal to the one that left RCB in 2022. Dev in 2020 was a stroke-maker. Dev in 2025, 2026… is an absolute beast.”