Rajat Patidar to be Retained in India’s Playing XI in 5th Test at Dharamsala vs England

Patidar to get another chance to prove himself which means he would feature in the final Test and Padikkal would have to wait. 

Dharamsala: There were multiple reports over the past few days over Devdutt Padikkal making his Test debut in the fifth and final Test at Dharamsala in place of under-performing Rajat Patidar. But, the latest is that the team will give Patidar another chance to prove himself which means he would feature in the final Test and Padikkal would have to wait. With reports suggesting Patidar will not be playing the fifth Test, one was surprised to see him not being released from the side to go an play the Ranji semis.

“The team wants Patidar to get one more chance as they feel Patidar has talent and it’s a matter of time before he gets runs. As India has already won the series, the team wants to try him out one more time instead of giving a debut to Devdutt Padikkal,” a source said on Indian Express.

Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah who was released from the squad for the 4th Test in Ranchi, returns to the side in Dharamsala for the fifth Test. Washington Sundar has been released from the squad. He will join Tamil Nadu – his state side – for their Ranji Trophy semifinal fixture against Mumbai, starting March 2. He will join the India squad after the completion of the domestic fixture for the fifth Test, if need be.

India’s updated squad for the 5th Test: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.