As the summer meshes into the rainy season, we can observe the changing landscape. Just like the changing seasons, our lives too travel through a chart comprising different phases. For a moment connect those dots to Rajat Patidar’s international career and one might visualise the following line – discarded from the Test set-up, walked through the morass of wilderness, and narrowly missed out on being included in the T20I squad.
Just look through the prism of the 2026 IPL and it provides a cue as to why the Indian selectors should have included the RCB skipper for the T20I series in Ireland and England. In the recently concluded IPL, Patidar didn’t just compile 200 runs against pace bowling but also scored them at a strike rate of 188.5. He has already gained a reputation for his striking abilities while facing spin and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his strike rate was as high as 206.7.
The task of availing Patidar’s numbers is to also dispel the theory that he can’t play fast bowling. The critics will point to how on occasions Patidar has looked vulnerable while facing short-pitch bowling. The counterargument to that would be the likes of Kartik Tyagi and Mayank Yadav bowled a couple of searing and well-directed short deliveries. In fact, Patidar did reasonably well to keep a fiery short ball from Mayank down with soft hands on a fast pitch in Lucknow.
Moreover, during his match-winning innings of 93 in the Qualifier 1, 31 of his runs came via the pull shot. Here, it has to be whispered that Gujarat Titans, the opposition on that occasion, had a battery of tall pace bowlers. In that game, two shots encapsulated how flashes of energy gushed forth from the willowy Patidar.
Kagiso Rabada, the ace fast bowler, attempted a short ball at Patidar, but he was given a fitting riposte. Patidar cleared his front leg a touch and pulled it virtually off the front foot. Patidar’s gambling instincts also helped him to loft drive Rabada’s length ball over covers for a six; one of the shots of the tournament.
The replays of that stroke show that Patidar had once again cleared his front leg a tad. Here, the initial assessment would be that the RCB captain was about to crunch another cross-batted shot through the on-side. Instead, he chose an area of the field via the off-side.
Even if we take a jog down the memory, there is enough evidence of Patidar taking on fine pace attacks from Bengal in domestic cricket and dismantling them. Join together all the jigsaws of Patidar’s pace-bowling game and it isn’t difficult to envisage him being a part of India’s next T20 World Cup campaign in Australia and New Zealand, where fast bowlers would be expected to make an impression.
Unfortunately, the selection door seems to be currently shut on Patidar. Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector, said in a press conference: “Rajat had an excellent IPL season and was definitely in contention. However, India has a lot of quality players competing for limited spots.”
So, the lingering question would be whether Patidar has the reservoirs of mental strength to emerge from this setback. To gauge Patidar’s mindset, one has to delve deeper and flip through the pages of his career. One of the anecdotes is connected to the ’22 IPL. Patidar had returned to the RCB squad as an injury replacement. At that time, he was told by the think-tank that he wouldn’t be a guaranteed starter.
“I played four matches in Chennai. I did decently, because the pitches in Chennai were suited for low-scoring matches,” as said to Revsportz. “(Next) half of the IPL was in Dubai, where I have not got a chance. After that they told me they would pick me in the auction, but they didn’t.
“Obviously, I felt bad about it. But it is okay, you can’t change things which aren’t in your hands. I felt I could score and come back because I have self-belief. After that, I was called back into RCB as a replacement. When I went there, on the first day, the coach told me, ‘it is difficult to give you a chance, because you’re a back-up player. If anybody gets injured, then only you can have a chance’. They have given me a clear message.”
As it happened, when Patidar was eventually given opportunities, he cracked a game-changing hundred against Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator phase of that IPL. He also was laid low by a career-threatening Achilles heel injury. Despite all those hurdles, Patidar has carved a niche for himself in the higher echelons of cricket.
Patidar’s tale can’t just be restricted to RCB winning a couple of titles. It is about overcoming the challenges – be it injuries, snubs, or emerging from a state that wasn’t exactly known as one of the hubs of Indian cricket.
Somewhere Patidar’s backstory also indicates that he would erase the fine lines of disappointment and heartbreak of missing out on national selection and once again make an attempt to climb up the staircase. For Patidar, it is about trusting his talent. And gift-wrapped skills always coax the men who matter to keep a close eye on the proceedings.
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