India unlikely to drop Rajat Patidar for the 5th Test against England in Dharamshala: Reports
It has been a tough start to Test cricket for India's Rajat Patidar, who received his maiden call-up in the longest format owing to his prolific performances in domestic red-ball cricket and for India A.
In the absence of big names like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, Patidar had the opportunity to get a few big scores and strengthen his claim to be a Test regular. However, he has scored just 63 runs across six innings at a poor average of 10.5 and has looked far from comfortable at the crease.
However, despite having the uncapped Devdutt Padikkal in their squad, India are reportedly set to give Rajat Patidar their vote of confidence for the fifth Test against England in Dharamshala.
A source told The Indian Express in this regard:
“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 had recently announced that KL Rahul hasn't fully recovered from his quadriceps injury yet and would also miss the final Test of the series. Rahul's absence has continued to give Patidar more chances and the same could be seen in Dharamshala.
AB de Villiers believes India will back Rajat Patidar
In a recent video on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers claimed that since India have wrapped up the series and have a winning momentum, they might continue to show faith in Rajat Patidar.
The former South African captain stated:
"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."
It could well be one last chance for Patidar in a while to prove that he had what it took to succeed at the Test level.
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.