Vijay Hazare Trophy: Devdutt Padikkal continues sensational form, SRH recruit Shabaz Ahmed rips through MP

Latest Lucknow Super Giants recruit Devdutt Padikkal continued his stellar form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023. Padikkal scored a rapid 93* off just 57 balls to guide Karnataka to a victory over Bihar on Wednesday, 29 November.

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The 93* came on the back of four 50+ scores by Padikkal in the last four matches. Padikkal now has scored 59 (T20), 71*, 117, 70 and 93* in his last five matches. The India batter was traded by Rajasthan Royals to LSG ahead of the Indian Premier League auction, set to be held on December 19. Padikkal, who has been criticised for poor strike rate in the Indian Premier League, looks to have worked on the same and has been on fire in the domestic tournament.

Chasing 218 vs Bihar, Padikkal rose up to the occasion and helped Karnataka reach the target in just 33.4 overs. Padikkal hit 9 boundaries and 5 sixes in the match, hosted by the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

It was not only Padikkal that did well on Wednesday. Another traded player in the Indian Premier League – Shabaz Ahmed produced a spell of 3.4-1-7-4 against Madhya Pradesh to seal a mega win for Bengal. Shabaz was trade to Sunrisers Hyderabad from Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of IPL auction. It looked like the Bengal player was in the mood to prove his critics wrong as he picked uselful wickets in the middle order and then cleaned up the lower-order to hand Bengal a 193-run win over Madhya Pradesh.

The performances from both players come at a time, when it felt like both players were not in the plans of their respective franchises. While Padikkal played 11 matches for Rajasthan Royals last season, Shabaz was tried out for 10 games. Padikkal scored 261 runs at a strike-rate of 130, while Shabaz picked just one wicket and scored 42 runs.