Sarfaraz Khan vs Rajat Patidar is the most talked about thing ahead of India's next Test match against England. Even before making their Test debuts for India, the duo are already in the news for the fact that they possess strong quality within them to replace the injured KL Rahul for the Visakhapatnam Test. They are toe-to-toe with each other in the domestic circuit, leaving hardly any space between them for the selectors to easily ignore the other one.
India's batting head coach Vikram Rathour was also asked about the same and he too could not give clarity on what the Indian team is thinking on it. "It will be a tough choice (to pick one between Sarfaraz and Rajat). What value they bring to the team, of course, is that they are super players. We have seen how well they have done in domestic cricket in the last few years," Rathour said in a press conference two days ahead.
"So on these kind of wickets, I think they can really add a lot of value to the team. If you have to pick one, it’s of course going to be tough. But that’s a decision I think Rahul and Rohit Sharma will have to make in a day or so," the coach added.
Both the players have shown their class in the domestic circuit. Rajat Patidar has scored 4000 runs in 55 first-class matches at an average of 45.97. He has also scored 12 centuries and 22 half-tons in the format. Sarfaraz also boasts strong numbers in first-class cricket. He has 3912 runs in the domestic circuit in 45 matches at an average of 69.85. Sarfaraz has also made 14 tons and 11 half-centuries.
Rathour also opened on the ongoing run of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, both of whom are struggling for runs. "There are young batters in our team who have not played much Test cricket. So, we need to be a bit patient with them. Batters like (Shubman) Gill, (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and (Shreyas) Iyer will eventually start getting big runs, I'm sure of it," he said.
