The news of Virat Kohli‘s sudden withdrawal from the first Two Tests against England left all the fans utterly shocked. As per the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Kohli has cited ‘personal reasons’ for skipping the first two matches. As the first Test will kick-start from Thursday in Hyderabad, everyone is eagerly waiting to see that who will be replacing the star India batter in the squad. As per reports, Royal Challengers Bangalore star Rajat Patidar has been picked to replace Kohli in the Indian squad for the first two matches.
Patidar has been knocking on the national team’s doors for a while now, especially after scoring 151 against England Lions in Ahmedabad last week. He also scored 111 in the warm-up fixture against the Lions. He has now been added to the squad, as per Cricbuzz.
Patidar was also in attendance during the BCCI’s Naman Awards in Hyderabad on Tuesday. His selection means that the national selection committee is in no mood to hand a return to veterans like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane while domestic stalwart Sarfaraz Khan also has to wait.
Earlier, Former India opener Aakash Chopra stated that Rinku Singh can be one of the potential candidates to replace Kohli. Rinku is emerging as one of the best finishers of India. However, he is yet to make is debut in the longest format.
Chopra stated that Rinku’s talent is not just limited to white-ball format as he is a great player of first-class cricket.
“What about Rinku Singh? He was kept with the team in South Africa. He is not a one-trick pony. It’s not that he is just a white-ball player. It’s not that he is just a T20 player. Check his first-class numbers and he is going back and playing first-class cricket whenever he gets a chance,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.
The renowned commentator also named veteran India batter Cheteshwar Pujara as a replacement for Kohli but also said that the management might have moved on the 35-year-old batter.
“Cheteshwar Pujara – only four Indians have scored more than 20000 first-class runs. He scored a double century recently. Form is with him and he has a proven Test record. He works hard by playing county cricket as well. He is your sincere cricketer. In fact, I say he is Indian cricket’s monk,” said Chopra.
“So you can pick him. However, I feel India are not looking in that direction. They have already started looking in a different direction. Cheteshwar Pujara is a legit option but are the Indian selectors looking at him as an option at all? That’s the question we need to ask and wonder,” he added.
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