Rajat Patidar of India has had a difficult start to Test cricket, after receiving his first call-up in the longest format after excelling in provincial red-ball cricket and for India A.In the absence of big names like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, Patidar had the potential to make a few huge runs and cement his place as a Test regular. However, he has only scored 63 runs in six innings, with an average of 10.5 and has appeared uneasy at the crease.
Despite having the uncapped Devdutt Padikkal in their squad, India are expected to give Rajat Patidar a vote of confidence for the fifth Test against England in Dharamshala.
A source told The Indian Express about this:
“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 just declared that KL Rahul has not fully recovered from his quadriceps injury and would miss the last Test of the series. Rahul’s absence has continued to give Patidar more opportunities, as can be observed in Dharamshala.
India’s updated squad for the fifth Test: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.
