India vs England: Rajat Patidar added to Team India squad for first two Tests, says report

It seems like Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar has won the race to replace Virat Kohli in the India squad for the first two Tests against England. Kohli pulled out of the first two matches of the five-game series due to personal reasons and ever since there had been speculations on who can replace him in the squad. Names like Cheteshwar Pujara and Sarfaraz khan had been doing the rounds, but Cricbuzz has now reported that the 30-year-old Patidar has been added to the India squad.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore batter had been in good form, having scored 111 and 151 against England Lions recently and was also part of the India A squad on tour of South Africa. The report added that Rinku Singh being included in India A squad for upcoming matches against England Lions was done with view to allow Patidar to join the senior India squad.

Patidar was seen attending the BCCI Naman Awards in Hyderabad on Tuesday. The right-handed batter made his international debut in December 2023 in an ODI against South Africa.

There’s however no clarity on whether Patidar will get to play in the matches as India have decided to go in with a specialised keeper. In such a case, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and KS Bharat could be India’s top six batters followed by two all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin besides three bowlers.