Rajat Patidar: ‘I keep a close eye on Virat's batting, especially his footwork’

Rajat Patidar revealed that he keeps a close eye the way Virat Kohli bats, especially when it comes to his footwork, after making his Test debut in Visakhapatnam on Friday. Patidar, who struck three boundaries in his 72-ball 32 and forged a valuable partnership with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal along the way, revealed Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma as his idols and additionally described the latter’s skill level as “extremely high”.

“Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are my idols. It feels great and I gain confidence to share the dressing room with my idols, I try to learn as much as I can from them.

“I keep a close eye on Virat’s batting, especially his footwork and with Rohit, his nature and skill level is extremely high and that fascinates me a lot,” Patidar said on ‘Match Centre Live’ on JioCinema and Sports18 after stumps on Day 1 of the second Test.

India ended Day 1 of the second Test against England on 336/6 after skipper Rohit elected to bat, with opener Jaiswal slamming an unbeaten 179 — his maiden international century at home and his second in Tests after his 171 against West Indies on debut.

Patidar plays alongside Kohli for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and became a household name after smashing an unbeaten 112 in just 54 deliveries during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants. On Friday, he was included in place of KL Rahul in the middle-order, with Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar replacing Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj in the XI.

Read | Rajat Patidar reveals feeling ‘no pressure’ on Test debut in Vizag

When asked about being nervous in his maiden outing for India in the white kit, the Madhya Pradesh batter added that he was settled mentally within a couple of deliveries.

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“The debut was different, there were nerves at the start but after a couple of balls, everything settled. I have played a lot of domestic cricket on similar wickets and the spin attack was not very dangerous and so it became easy,” Patidar, who had made his ODI debut in the recent tour of South Africa, added.

As for his dismissal — getting bowled by leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed while offering a front-foot defence, Patidar felt he was done in by the extra bounce on offer.

“I was playing well, was in good touch, I tried stopping the ball, but it bounced and moved fast inside. I feel I should have come back and played it, off the backfoot. That would have saved my wicket,” the 30-year-old added.