4 Indian Batsmen Who Have Scored A Century In IPL But Haven't Played A T20I For India

Earlier the cricketers performing in domestic cricket were called up to the national side. However, since the inception of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, the selectors have also paid heed to the performances in the tournament.

After all, the IPL has emerged to be the most competitive T20 league in the world, starring international players where Indian cricketers could learn plenty from them and prepare themselves for the international level.

Often impressive show in the IPL has been rewarded with a position in the national team. However, there have been a few cases where a batsman has even scored a century in the IPL and had a prolific season, but couldn’t – yet – make his T20I debut for India.

4 Indian Batsmen Who Have Scored A Century In IPL But Haven’t Played A T20I For India

Paul Valthaty

Paul Valthaty shot into the limelight with a fantastic century, in a tall run-chase against the Chennai Super Kings, for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the 2011 IPL. Valthaty would go on to hit a couple of more fifties in the season culminating with a total of 463 runs.

Valthaty, 27 then, would lose his way and fade away as few cricketers had after achieving such tremendous success in the IPL. He would feature in 7 matches for the next two seasons scoring 36 runs and was never picked by a franchise again.

Had the right-hander continued his form, and remained fit, from 2011 onwards, he could have got a look in the national team before Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan fixed their spots in 2013.

Wriddhiman Saha

Wriddhiman Saha’s IPL career peaked from 2014 to 2017 while he was at Punjab; he notched up his maiden IPL ton in the 2014 IPL final against the Kolkata Knight Riders, but Punjab lost the final.

Unfortunately for Saha, during his peak white-ball years MS Dhoni was the first-choice keeper – Dhoni was the captain, though. While Saha remains part of the Test set-up, his white-ball career is done and dusted – he played 9 ODIs for India, the last of which was in 2014.

Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal can consider himself a tad unlucky to have not made his T20I debut yet, given India’s abundance of batting talents for top-order positions. Agarwal, a solid and proven Test player, has transformed his white-ball game since opening for Punjab in the IPL.

Last year, in the UAE he hit his maiden IPL ton – 106 off 50 balls – and concluded the season with a tally of 424 runs at a strike rate of 156.46 and batted with alacrity at the top. However, with a surplus of batting options, it is unlikely that Agarwal will get a look at India’s T20I side anytime soon.

Devdutt Padikkal

Devdutt Padikkal made noises even before his IPL debut, which came in the 2020 season in the UAE. The left-hander returned as Royal Challengers Bangalore’s leading run-scorer, outscoring even Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, by aggregating 473 runs with the help of 5 fifties.

Padikkal touched the three-figure landmark in the IPL 2021 – he smashed 101 unbeaten runs off 52 balls against the Rajasthan Royals. Between the two IPL seasons, the opener had a record-breaking Vijay Hazare Trophy where he amassed 723 runs at an average of 147.

With India’s first-choice team going to England for the Test tour, Padikkal is likely to make the cut in the second-string squad for the T20Is to tour Sri Lanka in July.

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