Former Indian cricketer and batting coach Sanjay Bangar feels that Devdutt Padikkal could be in line to make his debut for India in the 5th Test match against England. The Karnataka batter who came in as KL Rahul’s replacement, sat out in the dugout during Rohit Sharma’s side’s 5-wicket victory at Ranchi.
Bangar feels that it’s a good opportunity for Devdutt Padikkal to come in as the series has already seen a couple of debutants, so why not another? And if it happens then it will be at the expense of Rajat Patidar who couldn’t score anything significant from the opportunities he had from the 2nd Test onwards.
Patidar could amass a total of 63 runs from 6 innings at Vizag, Rajkot and Ranchi. While India did win all of these matches, it was somehow an opportunity lost for the Madhya Pradesh batter. As he struggled mainly with his shot selection, he also saw Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel making a better impression than him from fewer chances.
Bangar confident about Padikkal’s inclusion
Majorly because of Rajat Patidar’s no-show in the last 3 Tests, Sanjay Bangar would not back him to play another one when there is an untouched batter like Devdutt Padikkal present.
“Because Rajat (Patidar) hasn’t scored runs in three Test matches, you can see a new debutant there. The Indian team can give a chance to Devdutt Padikkal. So two changes according to me.” – Sanjay Bangar told Star Sports.
