Rajat Patidar, making his Test debut after earning recognition for his impressive performances in domestic and India A cricket, faced a challenging initiation in the absence of key players like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.
Despite the chance to establish himself with significant scores, Patidar has struggled, accumulating only 63 runs in six innings at an average of 10.5 and appearing less comfortable at the crease.
Despite the presence of the yet-to-be-capped Devdutt Padikkal in their squad, India is said to be backing Rajat Patidar for the fifth Test against England in Dharamshala.
According to a source informed The Indian Express:
“The team wants Patidar to get one more chance as they feel Patidar has talent and it’s a matter of time before he gets runs. As India has already won the series, the team wants to try him out one more time instead of giving a debut to Devdutt Padikkal.”
The BCCI recently stated that KL Rahul, still recovering from a quadriceps injury, will miss the final Test of the series. This ongoing absence of Rahul provides Rajat Patidar with additional opportunities, and the trend is likely to continue in Dharamshala.
AB de Villiers thinks India will support Rajat Patidar
In a recent YouTube video, AB de Villiers suggested that with India securing the series and maintaining a winning streak, they are likely to continue trusting Rajat Patidar. The ex-South African captain expressed:
“If his (Patidar) attitude is catchy and if he is a likable character in the dressing room, Rohit and the selection panel will have the ability to say, ‘Hold on, we do believe this guy has a future and we see him as a part of the team moving forward. Even though he hasn’t been scoring runs, let’s give him a longer run.”
This might be Patidar’s final opportunity for a while to demonstrate his Test-level capabilities.
Revised Indian squad for the fifth Test:
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.
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