Amid the ongoing T20I series against England, former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has opined that an incumbent batter would have to be dropped to pave the way for Rajat Patidar’s inclusion in India’s T20I team.
Patidar recently etched his name in the history books by leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to back-to-back Indian Premier League (IPL) titles.
During the IPL 2026 season, he also dominated with the bat, amassing 501 runs in 14 innings at a staggering strike rate of 192.69 with five half-centuries.
Despite his remarkable performance, the RCB skipper failed to make the cut in India’s T20I squads picked for the ongoing UK tour and the upcoming Asian Games.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra addressed a question about Patidar’s place in India’s T20I side, considering that the batting line-up is dominated by the left-handers.
"It's a very good question, but to find an answer to that question, we will have to dig a little deeper and see who can go out. You have kept left-handers in the top three at the moment. You won't see Rajat Patidar in any of those places because you have got Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, and Ishan Kishan," Chopra responded.
"There is no scope to change any of those three. Ishan Kishan is at No. 3. If you have the power to remove Ishan Kishan, remove him. He has become the No. 1 T20I batter just now. It already seems like we are not doing right with Sanju," he added.
Notably, Sanju Samson was the Player-of-the-Tournament in India’s triumphant T20 World Cup campaign earlier this year. However, he was dropped for the second T20I against England after three modest scores on the tour of UK.
While the wicketkeeper-batter registered scores of 5 and 0 against Ireland, he managed just 1 run in the series opener against England in Chester-le-Street. The dip in form intensified demands from fans and analysts to debut young prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who was eventually handed his maiden India cap in Manchester.
Chopra further noted that Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma are locked in as captain and vice-captain, making it hard to find a fixed spot for Patidar.
"Shreyas Iyer comes at No. 4, and your vice-captain, Tilak Varma, comes at No. 5. Shivam Dube comes at No. 6. If you are not going to move the captain and vice-captain, which you shouldn't, would you want to play Rajat Patidar in place of Shivam Dube?" he asked in the same video.
Aakash Chopra concluded by saying that while Rajat Patidar will definitely play T20 cricket for India in the future, he will have to patiently wait for his time until an undeniable slot opens up in the middle order.
"I am of the opinion that his time will come. Rajat Patidar will certainly play for India again. He has played Test cricket earlier. It's only a matter of time, but has that time come? It will only come if you have to make someone sit out. Who will you make sit out? That question will have to be answered first. I don't think there is any scope for his name to come immediately," Chopra remarked.
