‘Non selection is justified’: Ex-batter makes huge statement on Rajat Patidar’s snub from T20I setup

The 33-year-old Rajat Patidar was thought to be in contention for a place in the Indian side ahead of the selection meeting on Saturday. The batter from Madhya Pradesh didn’t figure in any of the squads that were selected for the UK tour, as well as the Asian Games 2026 campaign.

Former India and Chennai Super Kings Subramaniam Badrinath has supported the selectors’ call to exclude the Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper. The 45-year-old took to his YouTube channel to speak about the Indian team selection when one of the fans asked him about the RCB star.

To which he said, “If Patidar has to make it to the Indian team, it has to be ahead of either Tilak Varma, Shreyas Iyer, or Ishan Kishan. His non-selection to the team was very justified. Even if we have to replace him with someone like Shivam Dube, it is like replacing a goalkeeper with a striker. Dube bowls regularly for the Indian side and comes into the finisher’s category.”

Badrinath then said, “Patidar and Shreyas are in the same bracket, and now that the latter is made the captain, where will Rajat fit in? Tilak has also done well for the Indian side, so has Patidar, but when we look at someone like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who had to break the door to make it to the side, in comparison, the RCB skipper hasn’t done anything like that to warrant a place in the side.”

IPL winning captain has played a total of 57 games in the league, scoring 1612 runs with one ton and 14 fifties. This season, the batter notched up 501 runs from 16 games with an average of 41 and a strike-rate of 192. His best knock was the 93 not out from 33 balls in the first playoff game against the Gujarat Titans in Dharamsala.

What did Ajit Agarkar say about Rajat Patidar’s snub?

Once the team was picked on Saturday, India’s chairman of selectors, Ajit Agakar was asked why the RCB star wasn’t part of the team. The 48-year-old replied, “Names of a lot of players were discussed. We feel that these 15 players are most deserving. There are lots of good players in India.”

Former India pacer also added, “There are also players who can walk into the team on the back of their performances. But, the current players are doing well, the selectors have picked a good team, and we are happy with this.”