In India’s last match of the T20 World Cup 2021, the batting line-up read: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya. 5 righties and just 1 lefty. In India’s most recent game against England in Manchester, the Men in Blue had just 1 right-handed and 6 left-handed batters. The situation has completely flipped on its head.
India’s got talent but no righties
Shreyas Iyer, the new captain, is the odd one out. One wonders: is there a need to bring in a right-handed batter? These were the talks about 5 years ago. Many felt planning against Indian batters wasn’t difficult since only Pant was out of the ordinary. Now, that’s just Shreyas.
Will Jacks is a handy spinner. But against India, he was a weapon for England. The off-spinner took the ball away from everyone but Shreyas and turned out to be the best bowler for his team. He returned with figures of 22/1. Mind you, Jacks has bowled just 42 overs in 42 T20Is for England. But versus India, he bowled 3 overs.
It’s a valid discussion to have. The obvious answer for who’ll come in is Rajat Patidar. But the more important question is, who goes out? The top three are untouchable. Sanju Samson may have been dropped, but he can’t go out of the team since he’s also the second wicketkeeper.
“We will have to dig a little deeper and see who can go out. You have kept left-handers in the top three at the moment. You won’t see Rajat Patidar in any of those places because you have got Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, and Ishan Kishan. There is no scope to change any of those three. Kishan is at No. 3. If you have the power to remove Kishan, remove him. He has become the No. 1 T20I batter just now. It already seems like we are not doing right with Sanju,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
If Rajat Patidar comes in, who goes out?
You can’t drop Shreyas; he’s the captain. Shivam Dube has been exceptional for India and can deliver an over or two ever so often. That leaves Tilak Varma. Out of all the batters, including Samson, he’s got the worst performance and a clear issue as a middle-order batter. But one can’t forget that he’s the vice-captain.
“Shreyas Iyer comes at No. 4, and your vice-captain, Tilak Varma, comes at No. 5. Shivam Dube comes at No. 6. If you are not going to move the captain and vice-captain, which you shouldn’t, would you want to play Rajat Patidar in place of Dube?” Aakash added.
Yes, India has dropped a deputy before – Shubman Gill. But that was just before the T20 World Cup 2026. Right now, we are at the start of a new T20I cycle. It’s understandable to give players bigger runs. For now, it seems India will stick with the lineup stacked with left-handed batters. That means Patidar will have to wait for his turn.
“I am of the opinion that his time will come. Patidar will certainly play for India again. He has played Test cricket earlier. It’s only a matter of time, but has that time come? It will only come if you have to make someone sit out. Who will you make sit out? That question will have to be answered first. I don’t think there is any scope for his name to come immediately,” he concluded.
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