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Rajat Patidar, the Madhya Pradesh batter, has been called up to India’s Test squad as a replacement for Virat Kohli, who has pulled out of the first two Tests against England for personal reasons.
With Kohli unavailable, India had no reserve specialist batters in the Test squad, apart from KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel, one of whom the head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed would play as the specialist wicketkeeper.
Patidar just controlled 151 of 158 balls in the four-day opener against an England Lions attack that included 3 internationals. The 30-year-old has fantastic numbers: 4,000 cricket runs with an average of 45. 97, with 12 hundreds. Patidar made his ODI debut against South Africa in December.
The first test of the five-man match between India and England begins in Hyderabad on January 25.
Karnataka batsman Devdutt Padikkal has been added to India’s A team to upgrade B Sai Sudharsan, who is suffering from back spasms. Rinku Singh has also been added to India’s A squad for the four-day fixture against the England Lions, to be played in Ahmedabad starting January 24, having previously been named in the squad for the third (and final ) series test.
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (week), Dhruv Horse mackerel (week), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar