The star batter, Virat Kohli, withdrew his name from the Test squad for the first two games.
Before the start of the much-awaited five-match Test series against England, India faced a major setback. The star batter, Virat Kohli, withdrew his name from the Test squad for the first two games. The reason cited was personal, and there is no clarity about the reason for his unavailability.
It is a massive blow for the Indian team, given the importance of this series. There are plenty of World Test Championship (WTC) points on line, and the winner of the series will solidify its position in the points table. Hence, winning the series is absolutely necessary.
Further, Kohli has been in tremendous form for India across formats, showing his true potential. He has been scoring runs consistently since last year and would have been crucial against a quality English bowling attack. Kohli is among the best Test batters for India – his technique is compact, and he has vast experience playing in the format.
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His record against England in Tests is also quite good overall. It’s impossible to replace a player of Kohli’s stature. The team will hope Kohli returns to the squad soon.
The talented Rajat Patidar has been announced as a replacement for Virat Kohli, who will miss the first two games. Patidar has been making waves consistently in the domestic arena. His recent form has also been top-notch.
Patidar amassed a fabulous 151 against the England Lions in the first unofficial Test in Ahmedabad. It was a terrific knock, given no other batter could apply themselves. The next best score was Tushar Deshpande’s 23, as Patidar made 66.51% of the team’s runs alone.
It is a massive call to make. There were the likes of Sarfaraz Khan waiting in the queue on the back of a plethora of runs in First Class cricket. There have already been ample talks about including Dhruv Jurel ahead of Sarfaraz in the original squad for the initial two games.
The recent form, especially his knock last week, might have tempted the selectors to pick Rajat Patidar. He might not feature in the first Test, especially after Dravid confirmed that KL Rahul won’t keep the wickets. There will be a toss-up between KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel as a specialist wicketkeeper for the first Test.
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