After their strong and dominant victory against Mumbai at the Ranji Trophy 2025/26quarter-finals, Karnataka qualified to the semifinal of the tournament and were up against Uttarakhand at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Vihari Vajpayee Ekhana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. They would hope to collect a victory in this clash and make their way into the final.

Karnataka didn’t make a good start with the bat as they lost their former captain and the right-handed opening batter, Mayank Agarwal, for five runs in 32 balls in the ninth over of the innings against the new ball as Aditya Rawat grabbed the very first wicket. As Devdutt Padikkal made his way into the middle, the need of the hour was to put in a big partnership.

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And the left and right combination of Rahul and Padikkal put a massive partnership of 278 runs for the second wicket in 391 balls to shoulder Karnataka to a strong position. The former smashed a fine knock of 141 runs in 211 deliveries at a strike rate of 66.82, thanks to 11 boundaries and five sixes.

Devdutt Padikkal celebrates 50 in Ranji Trophy 2025/26 semifinal

Padikkal used his feet and went with the spin against J Sucith’s left-arm spin over the long-on region for a massive six over the rope to make his way into the three-figure mark. It was a great knock from the captain, who also smashed a fine century in their last group-stage clash against Punjab in Mohali.

Watch the video here: 

Getting to the milestone in style! 🚀

🎥 Watch the moment Devdutt Padikkal reached his century with a maximum over the ropes!

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— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) February 15, 2026

Padikkal, with his form, has put his hand up to be part of India’s Test team and bat at the number three when the blue brigade takes the field in their next Test match against Sri Lanka away from home. They have struggled to find solidity at that position in the red-ball format.

For Uttarakhand, Aditya Rawat has taken both the wickets of the openers. However, it was a shocking decision from their captain to bat first after winning the toss as the spinners won’t be part of the fourth innings in the defense.

Brief Scores: Karnataka 327/2 (KL Rahul 141, Devdutt Padikkal 136*, Aditya Rawat 2/72) vs Uttarakhand.