Team India has been enduring a rough patch in their recent T20 assignments under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer. The ongoing tour has been incredibly frustrating, exposing India's alarming struggle. They recently suffered a 2-0 series defeat against Ireland, and in the ongoing five-match series against England, India are 0-1 down following the defeat in the second game after the first match was marred by rain.
One of the most critical issues has been the inability of India's batting unit to perform under pressure. The squad is packed with power hitters, still the team has struggled massively to step up. Amid the repeated batting collapses, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes that the current batting combination is too much dependent on left-handed batters, which makes it quite easy for opposition teams to plan their bowling accordingly.
Notably, in the second T20I against England, India had six left-handed players in Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, and Axar Patel. Meanwhile, Pathan suggested that Rajat Patidar should be considered for a place in the T20I squad, as his inclusion will help the side find batting flexibility.
"Looking at the number of left-hand batters in the Indian T20 team right now, it's even more of a reason for Team India to look at Rajat Patidar going forward," Irfan Pathan stated on X.
"I really hope he gets an opportunity, especially since there is still plenty of time for Team India to experiment before the next T20 World Cup," Pathan added.
As for Patidar, he was in scorching form in the IPL 2026, with 501 runs in 15 matches at a strike-rate of 192.69. Most importantly, as a captain, he guided RCB to a second successive IPL title.