When Virat Kohli pulled out of the first two Tests of the five-Test series against England, Rajat Patidar was named as his replacement. Patidar did not make his Test debut straightaway. When KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were ruled out of the second Test in Vizag, Patidar got his debut cap. He registered scores of 32 and 9 but retained his place in the Rajkot Test. While on Test debut, he showed temperament, in his second Test he faltered and departed after a single-digit score followed by a duck. While Devdutt Padikkal is waiting for a chance in Ranchi, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour said that two poor games don’t make him a ‘bad player’.
"We have been having a lot of conversations with him [Patidar]. One thing he has to understand is that this is how this game works. He has been batting really well and scoring a lot of runs to get into the team. Two poor games don't make him a bad player. He just had two tough games, couple of awkward dismissals, which can happen to anyone. There is absolutely no doubt that he is a good player. On his day, he will come up with an impactful innings," Rathour said while speaking to the reporters on the eve of Ranchi Test.
Patidar’s form and numbers in first-class cricket
Before making his Test debut, Patidar scored two centuries for India A against England Lions including a 151-run knock. The Madhya Pradesh batter has 4,046 runs from 57 first-class games at an average of 44.46 including 12 centuries and 22 half-centuries.
Another chance for Patidar
As Rahul has been ruled out of the fourth Test and doubtful for the Dharamsala Test as well, the 30-year-old Patidar is set to get another chance to prove his mettle when India take on Ben Stokes-led England at JSCA Stadium starting February 23.
India’s updated squad for the 4th Test:
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
'That umpire isn't suited to international cricket, much better if he did another job': Hasaranga lashes out at umpire for missed no-ball call
'Staring at him is very difficult': Iftikhar Ahmed reacts after verbal exchange with Shaheen Afridi during PSL match
