Devdutt Padikkal

- An elegant left-hand top-order batter, Karnataka's Devdutt Padikkal was picked up at the auction ahead of IPL 2020 by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

- Padikkal racked up 473 runs in his first IPL season and won the award for best emerging player.

- He followed that up with another 400-plus IPL season for RCB, scoring a century in the tournament as well - 101* in 52 balls against Rajasthan Royals.

- RCB, however, released Padikkal after that and RR bought him at the auction prior to IPL 2022. However, playing in the middle order as opposed to his preferred opening role, he could not replicate his success from previous years, scoring 376 runs from 17 innings.

- He had another lean season with RR in 2023, scoring 261 runs from 11 innings, and was traded to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ahead of IPL 2024.

Padikkal first came to attention in 2020 as a 20-year-old after a breakout domestic season where he was the top run-getter in both white-ball tournaments, and then winning the emerging-player award in his debut IPL season, racking up 473 runs. At 6ft 3in, left-hander Padikkal, primarily an opener, is able to use his height and reach to meet good-length balls on the rise. He took his first-season form into the 2020-21 Vijay Hazare Trophy, in which he became the first Indian batter to score four consecutive List A hundreds. He made over 400 runs in the 2021 IPL as well, and it led to an India call-up, in Sri Lanka. But just when Padikkal's career was taking off, an acute intestinal issue struck him, affecting his form and fitness for two years. After two middling seasons with Rajasthan Royals, where he shuttled up and down the order, he was traded to Lucknow Super Giants ahead of the 2024 IPL. He found his feet again just before that, becoming Karnataka's top run-getter in the 2023-24 Vijay Hazare Trophy and following it up with four hundreds in six first-class games.