“On his day, he will come up with an impactful innings” - Vikram Rathour backs Rajat Patidar

Team India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour has backed Rajat Patidar to come good after the latter made a disappointing start to his Test career. Asserting that the Madhya Pradesh cricketer has been batting really well, Rathour added that a couple of poor games don’t make him a bad player.

Patidar, 30, made his Test debut in the second match of the series against England in Visakhapatnam. He scored a well-compiled 32 before being bowled in somewhat unlucky fashion. In his last three innings, though, he has dismissed for single-figure scores, which includes a duck in the second essay in Rajkot.

At a pre-match press conference ahead of the fourth India vs England Test, which begins at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Friday, February 23, Rathour spoke out in support of Patidar and said:

“We have been having a lot of conversations with him [Patidar]. One thing he has to understand is that this is how this game works. He has been batting really well and scoring a lot of runs to get into the team.

“Two poor games don’t make him a bad player. He just had two tough games, couple of awkward dismissals, which can happen to anyone. There is absolutely no doubt that he is a good player. On his day, he will come up with an impactful innings,” the former India opener added.

With KL Rahul ruled out of the fourth Test as well and Virat Kohli unavailable for the remaining matches, Patidar is likely to get another opportunity to prove his worth in the fourth Test against England.

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“Golden opportunity for Rajat Patidar to score runs” - Aakash Chopra

According to former India cricketer Aakash Chopra, Patidar has a golden opportunity to score runs in Ranchi since senior batter Rahul has been ruled out of the fourth Test as well. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra commented:

“They were saying that KL Rahul would be available for the next match and then the match after that, the third and the fourth Test, but now he could probably be available for the fifth, we don't know as of now.

“Since he is not available, it means there will be no change in the Indian XI as far as the batting lineup is concerned. So it's a golden opportunity for Rajat Patidar to score runs, or else it could be a problem,” Chopra added.

Patidar has the experience of 57 first-class matches in which he has scored 4,046 runs at an average of 44.46, with 12 hundreds and 22 fifties.